Wema Bank PLC has taken legal action against 26 financial institutions, seeking a court order to recover N888,301,598.15 allegedly withdrawn from its accounts without authorization due to a system glitch.

The bank, in a suit filed before the Federal High Court in Lagos, urged the court to issue a preservative order mandating the financial institutions to return the funds traced to accounts held within their institutions.

In an affidavit written by Kehinde Buari, head of special Review & investigation of Wema Bank PLC, in  support of an application filed before the court by a Lagos lawyer, It was alleged that, Wema Bank PLC, experienced a system glitch on one of its core banking applications on 16th of January, 2025, which resulted in the unauthorised transfer of substantial funds from accounts held with the bank, as well as accounts held with the respective financial institutions dragged before the court.

After the incident, Wema Bank PLC commenced the tracing of the funds that were transferred without due authorization. While some of the funds have been traced internally, others have been traced to accounts held with the defendants /financial institutions.

The bank’s initial investigations led to the tracing of funds to accounts held with some of the defendants.

Further investigations revealed that the recipients of these funds attempted to dissipate, hide and or obscure the same by moving part of the funds to some of the financial institutions.

The bank took immediate steps to notify the financial institutions of the glitch and the unauthorised transfers of funds from the bank’s customers’ accounts to accounts held with the defendants.

The bank requested the beneficiary accounts held with the defendants to be immediately restricted/sequestered in order to protect/salvage the bank’s customers’ funds.

Some of the financial institutions immediately restricted the beneficiary accounts and sequestered/salvaged a significant portion of the funds that were transferred out of the plaintiff’s customers without authorisation.

The total amount salvaged by the said defendants is N888,301,598.15 (Eight Hundred and Eighty-Eight Million, Three Hundred and One Thousand, Five Hundred and Ninety-Eight Naira, Fifteen Kobo)

Further to the above, the bank’s Internal Audit and Legal Teams detailed the outcome of the ongoing investigations tracing the funds moved to accounts held with the defendants as a result of the system glitch.

Accordingly, an Internal Memo dated 16 January 2025 and two summaries dated 20 January 2025 and 21 January 2025 were issued, showing:

i.Particulars of the sums transferred out of the bank’s customers’ accounts and traced to other accounts held with the bank as well as to accounts held by the respective defendant.

Particulars of the beneficiary accounts in respect of the traced sums.

iii. Particulars of the sums salvaged by the respective defendants.    Respectively, copies of the bank’s internal memos, dated 20 January 2025 and 21 January 2025, have been filed before the court.

The investigation into the unauthorised movement of funds continued after the investigations conducted above.

Mr. Buari stated further that he knows that the beneficiaries/recipients of the unauthorised funds attempted to disguise/obscure the source of the said funds by dissipating the same through an intricate web of transfers.

Following the conclusion of further investigations, the plaintiff traced additional funds to the defendants.

Due to the complicated and intricate nature of the movement of the funds from  Wema Bank, it became necessary to involve the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System ( NIBSS)

The NIBSS promptly exchanged correspondence with several banks on 16th January 2025 regarding funds traced to the said banks from Wema Bank as a result of the system glitch.

i.The total sums traced to and or salvaged by the respective defendants, particularly as shown in various Exhibits, ought to be returned to recovered by Wema Bank from the respective defendants.

The financial institutions/defendants  ought to return to the plaintiff the total salvaged sum of N888,301,598.15 (Eight Hundred and Eighty-Eight Million, Three Hundred and One Thousand, Five Hundred and

Further to the above, the tracing of the millions of funds transferred without authorisation is still ongoing.

Wema Bank has approached this honourable court to secure an order directing and enabling the respective defendants to return the affected funds to the bank

The steps taken by the defendants are only temporary, pending the issuance of preservative, repatriation and further orders by the honourable court.

Further to the above steps, the plaintiff is required to obtain the relevant/necessary orders from this honourable court, failing which the defendants would be constrained to release the ringfenced/sequestered/salvaged funds.

Consequently, Wema Bank is seeking for:

An order directing/mandating the 26 financial institutions listed before the court to reverse/return to Wema Bank PLC the total sum of money running into Billions of Naira as appearing in Exhibits attached to the affidavit in support of the originating summons.

.  An order directing/mandating each of the respective defendants to reverse/return to the plaintiff, any other/further sum of money, as may be traced and or salvaged from funds moved without authorization from accounts held with Wema Bank to accounts held with respective defendants, as a result of the system glitch that occurred on 16 January 2025.

An order directing/ mandating the respective management/ officers of the respective defendants to disclose to the plaintiff and or relevant law enforcement/regulatory agencies, all required/relevant particulars of account holders who have dissipated the sun’s transferred to their accounts without authorisation, for purposes of investigation and or recovery.

An order directing/mandating the respective

management/officers of the respective defendants to place on the Central Bank of Nigeria Credit Risk Management System List and any other Watchlist, the Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) of all account holders who have dissipated the sums transferred to their accounts without authorisation, until the full recovery of the dissipated funds by the plaintiff.

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has signed an agreement with the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to commence rollout of multi-purpose Government-to-People (G2P) cards to students for enhanced access to loans and administration.

The MoU for the initiative was signed by Akintunde Sawyerr, managing director of NELFUND, and Engr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, director-general, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), alongside Mr Femi Akande, managing director of Data Mining Company, at NELFUND headquarters on Friday in Abuja.

The National Identity Number (NIN)-enabled G2P card is payment enabled and allows students to access their upkeep loans directly without necessarily waiting for banks as they could use the card to access different electronic services including point of sales (POS), automated teller machine (ATM) and web payment among others.

In his brief remark, Sawyerr, MD, NELFUND, described the MoU as a groundbreaking event to drive financial inclusion and promote transparency and accountability through the deployment of the Government-to-People Card.

He expressed the commitment of NELFUND management to the project, adding that the MoU would open a new vitsa for Nigerian students to access loans seamlessly using multiple wallets as facilitated by the biometric-enabled card from NIMC.

Sawyerr highlighted the immense support of NIMC to the success being recorded in the administration and disbursement of loans to students by providing essential identity verification services.

“I’m impressed with the work NIMC is doing, without NIMC NELFUND literally cannot function,” he said.

He commended President Bola Tinubu for rolling out socio-economic programmes that would change the narratives for Nigerian students, saying the Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration would have far-reaching positive impacts for Nigerian students.

Coker-Odusote, DG, NIMC, on her part, explained that the biometric-enabled cards are parts of products from NIMC to drive digital and financial inclusion and ensure that every single beneficiary of government services (loans) has a verifiable identity.

She added that the biometric-enabled cards have multiple wallets for students and could be used online and offline to access loans and other services.

Speaking further, the NIMC boss said the cards would also make it possible to track loan disbursement and ensure they are used for the purposes intended, noting that it would promote transparency, accountability and eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy.

“The biometric-enabled cards is unique in promoting digital and financial inclusion because of the layers of features in them. They cannot be forged or faked.

“They have features that make cash available in students’ wallets, the students can easily access their allowances, buy books and make transfers without waiting for banks. The cards operate online and offline,” she said.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revealed that women are the most affected victims of Ponzi schemes in Nigeria.

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment scheme that pays earlier investors with money from new investors.

Dr. Emomotimi Agama, drector-general, SEC, disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday at an event marking International Women’s Day (IWD) organized by the commission.

He emphasized the need to educate and empower women to make informed financial decisions and create wealth in the capital market.

“Most of the Ponzi schemes in Nigeria have women as the majority of their victims. Women, with their empathetic nature, often invest in such schemes to support their families, but end up losing their hard-earned money,” Agama said.

He stressed the importance of providing platforms for women to trade their commodities and participate actively in the capital market.

Similarly, Hajia Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, minister of Women Affairs, urged women to demonstrate excellence and make impactful financial decisions.

She praised SEC’s financial literacy initiative, stating that it would equip women with the knowledge needed for smart investments and protection from fraudulent schemes.

Mrs. Hafsat Rufai, director of Registration, Exchanges, and Market Infrastructure, SEC, highlighted the benefits of investing in the capital market, including wealth creation, dividend income, and tax benefits.

She urged women to verify investment firms with SEC before patronizing them.

Mrs. Hansatu Adegbite, chairperson of the Association of Nigerian Business Women Network, commended SEC’s efforts in educating women on financial literacy.

“Where poverty exists, we must create wealth. Women need to look beyond traditional savings and explore opportunities in the capital market,” Adegbite said.

The event, themed “Accelerate Action: Empowering Women through Financial Literacy and Inclusion,” attracted women associations from various sectors.