The House of Representatives has begun investigation of the circumstances surrounding the collapse of Savannah Bank Plc in 2002 and the plans to revive the bank.

The House is also seeking measures to ensure recovery of funds deposited by customers of the moribund bank.

At the plenary on Thursday, the House unanimously adopted a motion moved by Mr Magaji Aliyu titled ‘Need to Investigate the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation on the Current Status of Savannah Bank.’

Adopting the motion, the lawmakers resolved to mandate the Committee on Banking and Currency to interface with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation “on the current status of the bank and also ascertain whether it has fulfilled all the requirements to commence business.”

The committee was also mandated to interface with shareholders and the new management of the bank on possible ways to refund depositors.

Furthermore, the committee was expected to interface with the CBN on the effective measures put in place “to avoid the reoccurrence of what led to withdrawal of the licence of the bank and its eventual closure in 2002.”

The committee was asked to report back within two months for further legislative action.

Moving the motion, Aliyu noted that at the time of its forceful closure, the bank had nearly 85,000 shareholders, a share capital of N1bn and about 118 branches with depositors’ funds which were in hundreds of millions.