The House of Representatives has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to direct commercial banks to overhaul the existing online/electronic banking platforms for the efficient conduct of electronic banking operations.
This follows the unanimous approval of a resolution brought up by Sergius Ogun (PDP, Edo) on Thursday during plenary.
Ogun moved the motion earlier and stated that Sections 88(1) and (2) of the Constitution gave the National Assembly the ability to look into the actions of any authority that was responsible for carrying out or managing the assembly’s laws, such as the CBN.
According to him, Section 1 of the CBN Act established the CBN to print Nigerian legal tender money.
He said: “In the wake of the recent naira redesign and cash withdrawal limit policy of the CBN, there has been an increase in the use of online and electronic banking services to carry out monetary transactions across the country.
“The use of online or internet banking services by Nigerians in the past three months or thereabout has been characterised by varying degrees of hitches ranging from unsuccessful electronic bank transfers, Point of Sale (PoS) service failure and a host of others.
“[We are] worried that if nothing is done by the CBN to address these difficulties or ineffectiveness, Nigerians will continue to suffer untold hardships and loss of monies to unsuccessful electronic bank transactions.”
In his ruling , Rep. Ahmed Wase, the Deputy Speaker of the House, mandated the Committee on Banking and Currency to ensure compliance and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.