*Justice A. O. Faji of the Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos State of Nigeria, orders the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc to pay its customer N8,000,000 in damages, for unilaterally opening a domiciliary account for Miss Folashade Molehin without her consent, 鈥榞rossly breaching鈥� her right to data privacy in the country鈥檚 financial ecosystem

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

For unilaterally opening a domiciliary account without her consent or prior knowledge, the Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos State, has ordered the United Bank of Africa (UBA) Plc, one of the commercial banks in Nigeria, to pay Miss Folashade Molehin N8,000,000 (Eight Million Naira) for a 鈥済ross violation鈥� of her right to data privacy.

绿帽献妻 reports Honourable Justice A. O. Faji of the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal High Court, in his recent Judgement on Suit No. FHC/L/CS/2625/2023 regarding 鈥渢he matter of the enforcement of the fundamental human rights鈥� of Miss Molehin, said the UBA Plc had failed to comply with the requirements of the tier-one domiciliary account in the opening of Account Number 2300304402.

The court said to all intents and purposes, the tier-one domiciliary account is a limited account, which for its continued operation requires Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance, and which the bank has not been done.

Justice Faji asserted: 鈥淚ndeed, the customer does not want to continue operating the account, and has asked for it to be closed but the bank is still holding onto it.

鈥淭hese facts show an unfortunate and unexplainable insistence by this bank to prolong the applicant鈥檚 agony and to continue to ride roughshod on the applicant鈥檚 rights even in the face of a decision by the applicant to close the account鈥�. I cannot imagine what the bank hopes to gain from this.鈥�

The court also affirmed that the bank also 鈥渃ould not provide any reasonable explanation or justification for unilaterally opening a domiciliary account for the applicant.鈥�

In the lawsuit funded by Paradigm Initiative (PIN), a leading social enterprise in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for Development and Digital Rights on the African continent, through its digital rights reporting platform Ripoti, the organisation in a statement Tuesday, June 11, 2024, emphasised the bank was found liable for unilaterally opening a domiciliary account for Miss Molehin without her consent, thereby breaching her right to data privacy.

UBA violates provisions of 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) and NDPR 2019 on right to data privacy 鈹� Counsel

Earlier, Miss Molehin, the bank鈥檚 customer, through her lawyers, Festus Ogun Esq., Managing Partner at F.O.Legal firm, with B. Olutan Esq., had sought to establish whether UBA鈥檚 decision to unilaterally open a domiciliary account for a customer without her consent breached her right to data privacy.

Ogun also noted that she sought a court declaration that the bank鈥檚 unilateral opening of the domiciliary account without her consent, or prior knowledge is a gross violation of her right to data privacy, as enshrined in Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and a gross breach of the

During the hearing of the case, the applicant had told the court she submitted her bank details to her employer for purposes of payment of her monthly salary.

According to Molehin, her employer transferred her salary to her Savings Account in UBA, and 鈥渟he waited in vain for the bank to confirm that $300 (Three Hundred US Dollars) had been lodged in her Savings Account.鈥�

PIN further disclosed the customer later received a text message (SMS) from UBA Plc, informing her that a domiciliary account had been opened for her without her consent, and the said amount ($300) deposited into the new account.

鈥淪he visited the bank鈥檚 Ojodu Branch, in Lagos State, and was informed that the account had, indeed, been opened in her name, and the amount deposited into the said new account.鈥�

The organisation said the bank, through its counsel, C.O.P. Emeka (SAN) with P. E. Anyanwu Esq., during the proceedings, had urged the court to strike out the case for lack of jurisdiction, but court ruled otherwise, maintaining it has jurisdiction over Molehin鈥檚 claim.

Bank鈥檚 refusal to close new account after customer鈥檚 instructions

The Judge as well noted that there was no reason why the UBA Plc had to act so fast as if there was urgency in the transaction.

Justice Faji explained yet the customer was not out of reach, and could have been reached even by phone, since the bank notified her of the credit by text message after the account had been opened.

He stated: 鈥淭he same medium could have been utilised with probably the same result.鈥�

The bank did not respond to the customer鈥檚 letter requesting the closure of the account, stated Paradigm Initiative.

The Judge further said the customer鈥檚 letter could have been responded to with all the explanation the bank stated on the processes filed in court for the customer to see 鈥済ood faith鈥� on part of the bank, but that was not done.

PIN also said after some time, Miss Molehin had no choice than to withdraw the money in the account since the bank neither closed the new account or explained how it was created in the first instance, and why it was not closed even after the customer鈥檚 instructions to do so.

The bank, during the trial, had contended that there was 鈥渘o processing of the customer鈥檚 data鈥� in opening the new account.

Nonetheless, the Judge in his ruling referred to the expression 鈥減rocessing鈥� in the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation Clause 1.3 (xxi), and said that the data was clearly adapted to create the tier-one domiciliary account for the customer.

Justice Faji concluded the UBA鈥檚 suggestion that the account was created in good faith, could have been shown and justified by a response to the customer, even if the bank is not to respond to such letters.

Courts now enriching scope of data privacy jurisprudence in Nigeria: Lawyer Ogun

Commenting on the judgement, applicant鈥檚 counsel Ogun said: 鈥淚 sincerely believe that this landmark judgement is not just victory over arbitrary abuse of Miss Folashade Molehin鈥檚 data privacy rights.

鈥淚t is equally a clear testament that the Nigerian courts are now willing to enrich the scope of our data privacy jurisprudence.鈥�

In regard to the case strategy in the court of law, Khadijah El-Usman, Paradigm Initiative Programme Officer for Anglophone West Africa, also commented: 鈥淲e liaised from the inception of the matter till the judgement with F.O.Legal to ensure that Folashade鈥檚 interests were always at the forefront.鈥�

El-Usman stressed that 鈥淧aradigm Initiative remains dedicated to ensuring digital rights are respected all over the continent, and that is why we will not relent in taking up issues of rights violations through our Ripoti platform in a bid to provide a wide array of support to those who need it.

鈥淲e are also pleased to join efforts to create legal precedent around digital issues.鈥�

Kindly Share This Story