Some victims of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) fraud, have sued the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), the 24 commercial banks and Interswitch Nigeria limited at the Federal High Court, Lagos.

The suit now pending before Justice Ibrahim Auta was filed by Miss Daba West, a civil servant with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Miss Nwajiagah Omeruo, a consultant, Mr Tochukwu Onyuike, a lawyer and Mr Sydney Aguwamba, a fashion designer.

Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, United Bank of Africa Plc, Bank PHB and Intercontinental Bank Plc were named as defendants and representative of the 24 banks.

The plaintiffs, who claimed to have lost huge sums of money in unauthorised withdrawals from their accounts, said they are representing other Nigerians who have suffered similar fate on several occasions.

The plaintiffs contended that the banks had been negligent in their duties as commercial banks and service provider in safeguarding the plaintiff’s funds through installation of security software in total protection of the plaintiff’s fund and this is the duty ought to be observed at all time.

The plaintiffs argued that the defendants owed them a duty of care as regard the protection of their fund by providing security mechanisms towards the safe use of the debit cards.

The plaintiffs accused the defendants of failing to take all reasonable and effective measures by installing software and other devices to protect their funds from "unusual, unauthorised and fraudulent withdrawals."

They stated that the defendants failed to enhance their ATM systems to detect and retain clone cards when used as it is the standard practice in other parts of world, and that they also failed to realise the hazardous nature of offering debit card by not taking all reasonable steps to ensure that the ATM do not release funds more than N60, 000.00 daily.

The plaintiffs also accused the defendants of failing to provide debit cards with chip and pin technology which operates against unauthorised withdrawal, as it is done in other countries.

They contended that the defendants’ alleged negligence has caused Nigerians to suffer financial losses, physical trauma, emotional distress, loss of reputation and severe personal unrest.

They urged the court to among others, declare that the defendants are liable to Nigerians for the losses and damages caused by their alleged negligence in relation to the provision of debit card services.

They asked the court to declare that the four banks are representative defendants of the class of defendants being those designing, manufacturing, supplying and offering of debit card services.

The plaintiffs further prayed for a declaration that CBN failed in its regulatory duty to promote monetary stability and sound financial system in relation to the electronic money withdrawals. They are claiming against the defendants N50.2 billion as damages.

The CBN, in its statement of defence argued that none of the plaintiffs’ evidence showed any wrongdoing against it.

The bank added that the closest the plaintiffs came to linking it with their claim was that it allegedly failed in its regulatory duty to promote monetary stability and sound finance system in relation to electronic money withdrawals.

It argued that the plaintiffs could not under the country’s law, sue it unless they show evidence of bad faith as a pre-condition for their action.

The CBN urged the court to strike the suit out for want of jurisdiction or strike out its name from the list of defendants.

When the case came up last week, Justice Auta directed the other defendants who were yet to respond, but have filed notices of appearance, to file their defence before the next date. He also directed the plaintiffs to comply with the requirement to file a list of their proposed witnesses and adjourned to February 10 next year.

Olong:

A chasing after the wind,that's what this is!

Mbeki:

At least Nigerians are learning to complain against bad customer services instead of keeping mum.
The  way some of these banks carry out there transactions makes them feel as if they're doing one a favour.
If all Nigerians should be suing them to court, every now and then, I think they'll be more careful.

biggozz:

If you go through my posts, you guys will find where I led a big campaign on this same matter months ago, when I lost a whooping N85,000 to ATM card cloning! (as in, i was getting debit alerts, watching helplessly as doles of 20k were leaving my account yet with my ATM in my wallet!!)

I went beyond here to threatening Diamond Bank through my lawyer of sueing them or publishing what they did to me on the newspaper, when I realised that these guys are not new in crushing people's attempt towards getting justice. 

~Bluetooth:

What does the consumer protection council do?.Although,I admire the complainant's zeal to get justice but how long will it take to get the justice.Goodluck