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On duty of financial institution to reverse unauthorised debit on customer's account within seventy two hours of customers written notification.

Section 37(3) of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 states that a financial institution that makes an unauthorized debit on a customer's account shall, upon written notification by the customer, provide clear legal authorization for such debit to the customer or reverse such debit within 72 hours and that any financial institution that fails to reverse such debit within 72 hours, commits an offence and liable on confiction to restitution of the debt and a fine of #5,000,00. in this case, by the virtue of section of 37(3) of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015, the appellant was bound to provide clear legal authorization for the unauthorized debits or reverse the unauthorized debits within 72 hours after it was informed by the managing director of the respondent on 21st October 2016 or after it recieved the formal letter from the respondent on 24th october 2016 complaining about the unauthorized debits. The appellant did not provide any clear authorization of the debits within 72 hours of the receipt of the respondent's letter. Therefore, the appellant was bound to reverse the debits within the same 72 hours. (Pp. 516-517, paras. H-D).

Per Agim JCA (as he was) in United Bank for Africa Plc v. Vertex Agro Ltd (2020) Part 1754, Page 467 at 516-517