Investors and depositors in Polaris Bank Limited have been assured of the safety of their investment.
This is as Henry Nwawuba, Chairman, House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating the sale of the bank has confirmed it was done transparently.
Nwawuba, who spoke at a news conference which held at the National Assembly in Abuja on Thursday, October 20, said the ongoing sales of the financial institution followed due process.
The lawmaker assured investors’ on the status of the bank, adding that documents had shown substantial compliance in the process.
Giving insights into the documents, he said that out of the 35 companies invited to bid for the bank, 15 were picked by the regulatory agency which later reduced the bidders to seven before getting a Presidential approval to proceed with the sale of the bank.
“Before we broke up from plenary sessions to work on the budget, there was a motion on the floor asking the CBN to suspend the sale of Polaris Bank, I happened to have emerged Chairman of the committee.
“The Committee has started work and we have looked at the documents and that is the beauty of investigation in Parliament.
”The beauty is that regardless of what comes on the floor, it is only when we started looking at the documents before us that we start getting clearer picture,” he said.
Further, he said the committee had so far found evidence of substantial compliance in the process of selling the bank, adding that about 35 companies were invited to bid and it went down to 15 and finally to 7.
He added that recommendation was made and a presidential approval given, adding that the committee was happy with the process and intended to conclude investigation and lay the report before resumption of plenary.
He affirmed the status of the bank, saying that so far, everything looks good.
Nwawuba added that there is no cause for concern, saying that for the stability of the financial systems in Nigeria, the committee called on Nigerians to know there was nothing wrong with Polaris Bank.
“What the House is looking at is the process of the acquisition or the sale and so far, we are confident from what we are seeing.”
He encouraged Nigerians to leave their deposits with the bank and continue their business with the lender.
Though he stated that until investigation is concluded he would not be able to speak authoritatively on the matter, however,he added that from what the committee could see, there seemed to be substantial compliance.
“We feel that as a responsible House, we would look at the process and that is how we oversight the sector and that is what we are looking at.”
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