The Nigerian government has said all Illegal money lending businesses in the country will soon be closed over violations.
Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has said the joint committee tackling violation of consumer rights in the money lending industry will shut down illegal businesses
The Chief Executive Officer of FCCPC, Mr Babatunde Irukera, made this known while addressing Journalists in Abuja.
The joint committee is made up of representatives from FCCPC, the CBN, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Earlier in November 2021, the federal government moved to check some of the illegal, unwholesome and unfair practices in the money lending industry with the setting up of a joint committee to address the situation.
The acts were fast becoming a dominant and abusive practice targeting some of the most vulnerable in society.
The committee that received over 500 electronic mails and information in respect of the investigation was expected to through their activities lead efforts to address multiple potentially dubious conducts of certain money lenders, otherwise known as loan sharks.
Irukera said that the committee would also be writing interim regulations, which money lending companies must comply with.
“The joint committee is meeting and agreeing on how to proceed, but I can say that two of the entities of the joint committee will be going on the field and doing enforcement work now, very shortly,” he said.
“They will be closing down businesses and engaging app stores to shut down certain applications that are infringing and abusive. We are also going to be writing interim regulations and some basic information for all these money lenders to provide information so that people will know who they are.
“Some of them are just apps and we do not even know who the promoters are. So, we are going to provide certain frameworks for them to comply with before doing business.”
On the increasing number of consumer complaints about services by insurance companies, Irukera said the commission is progressing in its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
According to him, it is anticipated that as the MoU will be completed early next year, there will be more industry-wide interventions in that space.
“We get a lot more complaints about the insured who have paid their premium and have not been settled. And so, we are engaging NAICOM on that,” he said.
