The Christian Association of Nigeria yesterday urged the Federal Government not to be deterred in its effort to steer the economy away from looming recession.
CAN’s General Secretary, Joseph Bade Daramola, said the umbrella Christian body had uncovered sinister methods by some persons in the money market to take advantage of the economic hardship in the land to fleece members of the public through quick loan offerings.
He said such persons, even deploy unethical strategies to get their money back in case of a default, whereas their victims must have overpaid the loan secured but trapped by exorbitant interest rates.
According to Daramola, many poor and unsuspecting Nigerians have been sucked into these fraudulent schemes, due to harsh economic conditions in the country.
He, therefore, appealed to the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, as well as his team at the apex bank to continue to ensure that no individual or institution manipulates the financial system.
The CAN scribe said: “Some unscrupulous people have developed mobile apps to extort money from 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.
“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.
“We are calling on the governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emefele, the Ministry of Finance and other related agencies to, as a matter of urgency, to intervene before the victims begin to use self-help to free themselves from the public ridicule and embarrassment.
“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, NBS, to know that life is becoming unbearable and tough for the citizens, irrespective of their economic status.”
