GARNISHEE PROCEEDINGS: USING BVN TECHNOLOGY TO AVOID CHASING SHADOWS

Abstract

The enforcement of monetary judgments in Nigeria is beset by a structural difficulty that has attracted little legislative attention: the inability of a judgment creditor to identify, without resorting to indiscriminate multi-bank joinder, the specific financial institution holding funds for a judgment debtor. This article examines garnishee proceedings as a post-judgment enforcement mechanism under the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act and the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019, and identifies the widespread practice of joining fifteen to twenty banks simultaneously as garnishees as a source of inefficiency, delay, and potential violation of third-party property rights. Drawing on recent judicial decisions, including Central Bank of Nigeria v. Access Bank Plc & Ors (2022) LPELR-57017 (CA) and Ibrahim v. Sarham (2024) 4 NWLR (Pt. 1785) 407, the article analyses the legal framework governing the order nisi and order absolute, as well as the statutory duty of bank confidentiality that underlies the identification problem. It further examines the Bank Verification Number (BVN) system and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) as existing technological infrastructure capable of enabling targeted account tracing through a court-supervised Application Programming Interface (API). The article proposes specific legislative amendments to the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act and institutional collaboration between the National Judicial Council and NIBSS as necessary reforms to integrate technology into the garnishee process, thereby reducing cost, delay, and the wrongful attachment of third-party accounts.