Monday,
November 16, 2020 / 12.00PM / CIBN / Header Image: CIBN
Banking
and Judiciary stakeholders have jointly insisted that the administration of
Justice must use technology to guard against the adverse effects of
COVID-19.
Speaking
at the 20th edition of the National Seminar on Banking and Allied Matters for
Judges, organized by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), in
collaboration with the National Judicial Institute, NJI, under the auspices of
the Bankers Committee Mr, Godwin Emefiele, Governor Central Bank of Nigeria,
and Mr. Bayo Olugbemi, President/Chairman of Council, CIBN noted that the
emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and compliance with social distancing
precautions have resulted in the adoption of technology to facilitate mass
communication and business processes in the country.
In
his presentation, the CBN Governor who was represented by the Deputy Governor
of the CBN, Aisha Ahmad, said that the COVID-19 pandemic has unraveled as
a global health and economic crisis of seismic proportions. According to
Emefiele “Domestic and international travel and global trade value chains have
been severely disrupted with significant negative impact on financial markets,
financial services industry, oil & gas, health, transport & aviation,
education, hospitality & tourism, to mention just a few. Individuals,
families, businesses, industries, economies, countries – all have had to adapt
to a new normal, even as global coronavirus cases continue to rise above 50
million.”
He
stated that “the effects of the pandemic, particularly the crash in
international oil prices, disruption in trade value chains and muted business
activities during the lockdowns have severely impacted economic output and
heightened domestic macroeconomic vulnerabilities with GDP growth for Q2 2020
contracting by 6.10%; compared to 1.87% growth in Q1, 2020, a decline of
-7.9%.”
Further,
the regulatory bank Governor noted that “the Nigerian financial services sector
continues to be resilient, with positive financial soundness indicators
evidenced by strong capital adequacy, liquidity and asset quality metrics. Most
importantly, banks and other financial institutions (OFIs) sustained the credit
growth momentum, channeling significant amount of lending (over N3.7 trillion)
to the real sector- manufacturing, consumer, agriculture, etc. The banking and
payments system also retained its operational resilience, maintaining
availability of electronic payment and mobile banking channels. For instance,
electronic transaction volumes increased by about 67% during the lock down with
increased transactions at agent networks, whilst the payment system
infrastructure accommodated the surge as more citizens moved to electronic
channels.”
To
facilitate speedier trials in the new normal, Emefiele spelt out the critical steps
the judiciary should undertake as a matter of urgency:
- The judicial system should key into
digital transformation to improve the efficiency of the justice delivery
system. - Electronic trials should be used to complement
traditional court hearings to clear backlog and improve the speed of
dispensation of justice. - The judicial system must keep abreast of
the transformations to be in a pole position to adjudicate cases presented by
the financial sector. - The sector should ramp up investments in
critical infrastructure (hardware and software) needed to function in the new
normal. - Above all, continuous learning and
capacity development in ICT skills is critical for the judiciary to maintain
its support for the financial services industry in its intermediation role.
In his address, Mr. Bayo Olugbemi,
President/Chairman of Council, CIBN noted that the banking sector had not been
left out of the COVID-19 disruption and the banking industry and the sector had
embraced the innovations that had accompanied what is known as the “New
Normal”. With the option of working from home now more of a reality than ever,
banks and other financial institutions have further leveraged on technological
advancements to improve the efficiency of services, operations, compliance, and
regulations
Mr. Olugbemi warned over five hundred
participants who connected to the programme through two digital meeting
platforms of the growing danger arising from the use of the judicial system by recalcitrant
debtors to avoid contractual obligations. He used a scenario where a bank
customer after obtaining credit facilities sourced from depositors’ funds
rushes to court in order to seek the court’s assistance to avoid his obligation
to repay the loan and obtains interim or final restraining orders against the
bank with confidence that the judicial process which may take up to a decade to
be exhausted does not bode well for the financial services industry.
He said that “the courts can support economic growth in the country and
discourage this unsavoury practice by ensuring that, once it is established
that a loan was disbursed to a customer who is seeking protective reliefs, the
payment of the money advanced should be deposited with the court as a minimum
pre-requisite to commencing litigation or obtaining such orders against the
lender’.
Participants
at the seminar invluded: Hon. Dr. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, CFR, FNJI,
Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman, Board of Governors, National Judicial
Institute, Mr. Horacio Bernardes Neto, President, International Bar
Association and Mr. Olumide Akpata, President, Nigerian Bar Association;
Justice R.P.I Bozimo, Administrator, National Judicial institute, the
Attorney-General of Lagos State, Moyosore Onigbanjo, represented by his Senior
Special Assistant, Mrs Mujibat Oshodi, Mr. ‘Laoye Jaiyeola, FCIB, Past
President, CIBN/Chief Executive Officer, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group;
Professor Akin Oyebode, MON, SAN, Professor of
International Law and Jurisprudence, University of Lagos; Professor
Fabian Ajogwu, SAN, FCIArb, Principal, Kenna Partners & Professor of
Business Law, Lagos Business School; Dr. Cosmos Maduka, CO, Founder/CEO,
Coscharis Group; Mr. Bello Hassan, Director, Banking Supervision,
Central Bank of Nigeria; Mr. Babatunde Irukera, Chief Executive, Federal
Competition and Consumer Protection Commission; Mr. Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, FCIArb, FloD; Principal Partner, Pinheiro
LP/Chairman, Nigeria Wire and Cable Plc; Mr. Kelly Mogbo, Company
Secretary & Legal Adviser, Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Co and Mr.
Olofinsola, Partner, Human Capital Consulting, West Africa Deloitte &
Touche; were the other Speakers at the event.
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Source: www.proshareng.com