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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has raised the alarm about what it identified as the antics of ‘some faceless people who are unknown in the financial sector but are giving out loan facilities to vulnerable people as a result of economic predicaments in the country.’
CAN General Secretary Joseph Daramola, in a statement on Wednesday, said the alarm became necessary so that the financial regulatory agencies would be aware and act accordingly, while Nigerians take precautionary measures to avoid being duped.
He called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other financial regulatory agencies to look into the frivolous financial loan facilities being granted to people without collateral by some dubious companies.
‘Our attention has been drawn to the antics of these faceless people who are unknown in the financial sector but are giving out loan facilities to vulnerable people as a result of economic predicaments in the country,’ Daramola stated.
‘According to our findings, these unscrupulous people developed their apps to extort money from innocent people on 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 would 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 CBN Governor, Godwin Emefele, the Ministry of Finance and other related agencies to, as a matter of urgency, intervene before their victims begin to use self-help to free themselves from the public ridicule and embarrassment.
‘It is 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 called 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 (NBS) to know that life is becoming unbearable and tough for the citizens, irrespective of their economic status,’ it said.
