By Marcus Ikechukwu
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said it has uncovered a new plot where dubious characters give out soft loans to unsuspecting members of the public only for them to be harassed for repayment.
The Christian body has therefore asked the Central Bank of Nigeria and other financial regulatory agencies to look into the frivolous financial loan facilities.
Barrister Joseph Bade Daramola, CAN’s General Secretary in a statement to ELENDUREPORT claims that most of the soft loans are given to people without collateral.
“Our attention has just been drawn to the antics of some faceless people who are unknown in the financial sector but giving out loan facilities to vulnerable people as a result of economic predicaments in the country.
“Our findings, show that some unscrupulous people developed their apps to extort money from the innocent people in the pretext of giving them short loan facilities.
“Their interests are not only higher than the banks’ but they use blackmail and other antics to get their money back in case of a default whereas their victims must have overpaid the loan secured but run into trouble as a result of the ungodly interests. They will be harassing and embarrassing the contacts of their victims asking them for their intervention to recover their money.
“These are not only against the financial regulation but totally unacceptable, irresponsible, suicidal and unfair.
“We are calling on the Governor of the Apex Bank, Godwin Emefiele, the Ministry of Finance and other related agencies to, as a matter of urgency, to intervene before their victims begin to use self-help to free themselves from the public ridicule and embarrassment.
“It easier to condemn those who take such loans because they were not forced to do so but when we critically examined the economic conditions of the country and the attendant consequences, we have realised that it would take only the disciplined and the godly people to say NO to the trap.
“CAN is also calling on the Federal government to bring the economy out of the woods as a way of restoring sanity back to the polity. We don’t need the quarterly report of the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics to know that life is becoming unbearable and tough for the citizens, irrespective of their economic status,” Daramola added in the statement.