Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on President, Muhammadu Buhari to annul the plan by the Federal Government to borrow about N895bn of unclaimed dividends and funds in dormant accounts.
This follows report of the Federal Government plan to borrow unclaimed dividends and funds in dormant account balances of Deposit Money Banks using Part XII of the Companies and Allied Matters Act in the signed Finance Act 2020.
According to the Finance Act, signed into law by Buhari last December, FG is allowed to borrow unclaimed dividends and dormant account balances owned by Nigerians in any bank in the country.
But SERAP in a statement on Sunday by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, described the Act as illegal.
Part of the statement read, “The right to property is a sacred and fundamental right. Borrowing unclaimed dividends and funds in dormant accounts amounts to an illegal expropriation, and would hurt poor and vulnerable Nigerians who continue to suffer under reduced public services and ultimately lead to unsustainable levels of public debt.
“The right to property extends to all forms of property, including unclaimed dividends and funds in dormant accounts. Borrowing these dividends and funds without due process of law, and the explicit consent of the owners is arbitrary, and as such, legally and morally unjustifiable,” the statement read in part.
