Customer Battles UBA Over Missing Children Trust Fund Account

CYRIACUS IZUEKWE

A customer of United Bank for Africa, UBA Plc has dragged the bank to a Lagos court over the disappearance of his Children’s Trust Fund account he opened with the bank.
The customer,  Mr Ade Olusanjo alleged that he opened the account 30 years ago and has been depositing money into it until recently when he went to find out about the status of the account and discovered that there was no more record of it in the bank.
Following the discovery and inability of the UBA management to explain what happened to all the monies he has paid and interest accruing to the account, he had to contact his counsel and went to court to seek a redress.
In a suit filed before the Ogba Magistrate’s court through his lawyer, Barrister Peter Ehijinwa, Olusanjo stated that he opened the account for his three under-aged children for their education trust fund and opened another account for his wife with the bank in 1986.
In his statement of claim, Olusanjo said that he opened the account as future saving for the education of his children and was paying N1000 each annually.
According to him, he deposited into the account between 1986 till 1995 before he relocated to United Kingdom where they reside till now.
He said he did not make any withdrawal and had all deposit and withdrawal books given to him which show there was no withdrawal from the account.
In the claimant’s particulars before the court, it stated that before the claimant relocated to England, an average of N10,000 each was in the account and N8,000 was in his wife’s account.
He stated that the account had remained dormant and cannot be operated because UBA was unable to trace the records despite repeated demand from the claimant.
The claimant therefore, urged the court to give an order to compel the Bank to reactivate and credit the account with N705,096.24 each being the capital and interest accruing to the account as computed by a firm of chartered accountants.
He also urged the Bank to order the payment of N1 million as general and special damages for breach of contract.
In response, the Bank counsel, Barrister Sophia Abiri-Franklin stated the banks usually maintain dormant account pool meant for accounts that have gone dormant for a period of time.
She stated that Banking regulations stipulate that for security reasons and to prevent fraud, balances in dormant account may be closed and transferred to a general pool account.
The regulations stated,  “On request by account holder, such monies accruing to the account could be transferred to the account after the necessary security check.”
The suit which have suffered several adjournments was adjourned till 13 December 2017 for continuation of trial.
Olusanjo is not only asking the bank to refund the money, he is also asking for monetary  compensation for negligence.