Kano State Government Obtains Court Order to Close 3 Commercial Banks, Gives 2 Weeks Deadline

• Kano state government has gone to court in order to secure a court order closing three commercial banks in the state
• This follows repeated efforts to address the matter of tax evasion, and the government has determined to take action within two weeks
• This is not the first time the Kano state government has taken such action; last year, it closed five Guaranty Trust Bank branches

The Kano state government has issued a two-week ultimatum to three commercial banks to pay their outstanding trade registration fees or face closure.

The banks include First Bank of Nigeria, Ecobank and Unity Bank, Dailytrust reports.

The state government gave the ultimatum after securing a court order approving enforcement of closure.

A mobile court presided over by Senior Magistrate, Ibrahim Gwadabe on Thursday in Kano convicted the three banks for failure to pay Trade Registration Fees to the state government through the Ministry of Commerce Industry Cooperative and Solid Minerals.

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The offence, according to the judge, contravenes Sections 8 and 9 and is punishable under Section 14 of the Kano State Trade Registration Law 2014, a report from NationalDaily added.

The information officer of the ministry, Sa’adatu Sulaiman, said the judge, however, ordered the three banks to settle the outstanding fees within two weeks or face closure from their activities until they settled the bills.

Kano state, just like most state governments has been hit by a serious revenue shortfall and has been trying every means to cover up for dwindling federal revenue.

For most states, federal funding is a significant source of cash for state operations; therefore, the reduction forces governors to consider closing all tax loopholes.

Nigerian largest commercial banks by earnings as Eco, Access others earnings rise by 25% in Q1 to N1.54trn

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In another report Legit.ng revealed the top 13 commercial banks in Nigeria by earnings as they made a combined N1.54 trillion gross earnings in Q1 2022, a 25% increase over the N1.23 trillion recorded in Q1 2021. W

hile Profit Before Tax of the 13 banks reached N370.25 billion in Q1 2022, representing an increase of 19 per cent over N312.5billion earned in Q1 2021.

Details of their earnings were obtained from their audited financial result submitted to the Nigerian exchange.

Source: Legit.ng