By Robert Egbe
A Lagos lawyer Olumide Babalola has asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to suspend the N50 quarterly card maintenance fee for all savings accounts recently set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Babalola contended that the fee is against the public interest and in bad faith, since the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards remain in the custody of bank account holders.
The banks, he claimed, could thus not have been maintaining the cards remotely.
The lawyer is the sole plaintiff in the suit marked FHC/L/CS/2400/2019 while the CBN is the sole defendant.
He said the suit follows “the CBN’s circular to all banks and other financial institutions on Guide to Bank Charges which includes quarterly card maintenance fee of N50 for all savings accounts”.
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Babalola is seeking the following reliefs:
“A declaration the Defendant’s regulation for the charge of N50 quarterly card maintenance fee at page 20 of the “Re: Guide to Charges By Banks, Other Financial And Non-Bank Institutions” dated December 20, 2019 is in bad faith, not in the public interest, null and void.
“An order setting aside Card Maintenance Fee…
“A perpetual injunction restraining the Defendant and anyone claiming through them charging Card Maintenance Fee from the Plaintiff’s bank account on the basis of the Defendant’s “Re: Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial and Non-Bank Institutions” dated December 20, 2019.”
The suit is yet to be assigned to a judge.
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