By Jennete Ugo Anya
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has assured depositors of 46 microfinance banks (MFBs) whose licences were revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that their eligible deposits remain protected as payment of the guaranteed portion continues.
The assurance comes as the corporation intensifies efforts to settle eligible depositors following the CBN’s revocation of the licences on July 1, 2026.
Managing Director (MD)/ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NDIC, Mr Thompson Oludare, said the payment exercise was already underway, although the corporation could not provide a final figure for the number of depositors who had received their funds.
He explained that the process remained dynamic because new eligible depositors were still being identified and processed.
“As we speak, we have started paying the depositors. That is the guaranteed portion of their deposits. It is an ongoing process,” Mr. Oludare said.
The NDIC chief spoke at a three-day workshop for senior management and executive staff of the corporation, organised in collaboration with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
The payment process is being driven by technology, with the corporation leveraging Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).
Under the arrangement, the NDIC identifies affected depositors through their BVNs and locates alternative bank accounts linked to them. The guaranteed deposits can then be transferred directly into those accounts.
The approach is designed to remove some of the administrative burden associated with deposit verification.
“All we need to do is to make sure that the accounts that have BVNs, that’s the Bank Verification Number identified, and in collaboration with the NIBSS, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, we identify their alternative accounts in other banks and pay them seamlessly without their having to come to us for verification,” Mr. Oludare explained.
For depositors affected by the licence revocations, the use of existing banking records could make the process faster and more convenient. It also reinforces the importance of financial identification systems in strengthening consumer protection and the resilience of the banking system.
The NDIC chief said the ongoing payments were consistent with the corporation’s core mandate of protecting depositors and maintaining confidence in Nigeria’s financial system.
Financial institution failures, he noted, are undesirable but can occur. The purpose of deposit insurance is to ensure that customers are not left entirely exposed when they do.
“Our expectation is that you have a country where deposit insurance is pervasive, where people know that their deposits with the banks are guaranteed and safe,” he said.
“We do not expect institutions to fail, but then it is a fact of life. Just as people will die, some institutions will fail. But when they do, we want depositors to be sure that they are covered by the NDIC.”
The assurance is particularly important for customers of microfinance banks, which play a significant role in providing financial services to individuals, small businesses and underserved communities.
A disruption in such institutions can affect not only individual savings but also the working capital of small businesses that depend on MFBs for access to financial services.
By continuing the payment of guaranteed deposits, the NDIC is seeking to limit the wider impact of the bank failures and prevent loss of confidence from spreading across the financial system.
The workshop also highlighted another aspect of the government’s broader effort to improve public-sector financial management.
Director-General (DG)/ CEO of the BPP, Dr. Adebowale A. Adedokun, disclosed that the federal government saved N400 billion in the first six to seven months of 2026 through its price intelligence and benchmarking system.
He said the mechanism had generated N1.1 trillion in savings for government in 2025.
The system allows the BPP to assess procurement requests and project costs submitted by government agencies against prevailing market prices before approval. Where proposed costs appear excessive, the bureau can subject them to further scrutiny and help reduce procurement expenditure.
Dr. Adedokun said the savings represented funds that could otherwise have been spent on inflated procurement costs and could instead remain available to government agencies for other priorities.
Beyond the financial savings, he said price intelligence was changing behaviour across the procurement system by increasing awareness among contractors and government institutions.
“The most important thing is the awareness that has been brought into the system, the technical prudency that has been produced is beginning to give governments not only savings and also demanding that contractors do a good job,” he said.
The two developments discussed at the workshop point to a wider focus on protecting public resources and strengthening institutional systems.
For the NDIC, that means ensuring depositors are protected when financial institutions fail. For the BPP, it means ensuring public funds are spent at reasonable market prices.
