The Deputy Director, Consumer Protection, Central Bank of Nigeria, Hajia Khadijat Kazeem, says the bank’s intervention between May 2010 and this year has led to the refund of N14.6bn deposited by customers at various banks in the country.

This, he said, followed complaints lodged by customers about unsatisfactory services they experienced in the banks.

The deputy director, who represented the Director of Consumer Protection Department, CBN, Hajia Umma Dutse, made this known in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Monday during a press conference ahead of the consumer awareness campaign, which will commence in the state on Tuesday (today).

Kazeem said that CBN created the consumer protection office in 2010, which was later upgraded to a full-fledged department in 2012, adding that the bank had since then intervened in frictions between banks and their customers through the department.

She said that about 3,000 complaints by customers across the country had been treated by the central bank, which led to the refund of various sums to affected customers.

The week-long campaign, she added, was initiated to ensure that customers were treated in professional way by their various banks and kept abreast of current developments in the banking sector.

Kazeem said, “We can recall the events that occurred a few years ago in the financial industry. The Nigerian financial system was virtually on the brink of collapse. There was a crisis in the financial and capital markets which had been triggered by the global financial crisis.

“Following an extensive and in-depth study of the financial system, it was revealed that lack of consumer sophistication among many other factors was responsible for the near collapse of the financial system. The CBN then introduced reforms to sanitise and stabilise the system.

“As this campaign is being flagged off, it is my wish and belief that through the collective efforts of all stakeholders, we would be able to raise awareness amongst the people of the city of Ibadan and its environs.”

The sensitisation campaign, according to her, will include stakeholders’ forum, roadshow and discussions on radio and television stations based in the state while the exercise will be replicated in other states across the country and Abuja.

Punch