The Managing Director of the Nigerian Depositors Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, has urged Nigerians to take advantage of the new regulations protecting their investments, saying that the corporation would ensure that their deposits remain safe.

He also disclosed that the NDIC has paid N90.13 billion to depositors in 48 Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in liquidation.

Ibrahim, who spoke at the recent Kaduna International Trade Fair, warned Nigerians against patronising wonder banks, saying it was not possible to get 100 per cent interest from any form of deposit.

Represented at the occasion by the Director, Research Policy and International Relations of NDIC, Dr. Jacob Afolabi, the corporation’s boss called on Nigerians not to be deceived by fraudsters who are out to defraud them.

“It is not just possible to get 100 per cent interest on any deposit in a bank within a few months unless you are trading in cocaine, which you all know is illegal. The public should know that any person who opens such a business and so entices you, he is designing a scheme to defraud you from the onset.

“You would, most of the times, lose your capital and your expected interest. Please, people should not patronise Wonder Banks. They are not real. We have arrested a couple of their owners that we could find”, he said.

He disclosed further that a total sum of N2.50 billion had been paid to depositors of the 103 closed Micro Finance Banks (MFBs) as at December last year; as against the sum of N2.25 billion that was paid to the insured depositors of closed MFBs in 20111.

Source: Thisday (By John Shiklam in Kaduna)