By Kola Alhassan
“The whole trouble started mid-2021 when I gave birth to my child through caesarean operation. I didn’t expect that would happen. When the doctor called my husband and told him he couldn’t risk inducing me to labour, then I knew we were in for it. We had to utilize online loan apps when help was not forthcoming. My husband was owed backlog of salaries.”
These were the words of Mrs Ronke Aduloju (not real name), as she recalled how they patronised online loan apps and invited trouble.
For Aduloju, they were dark times indeed. She told IkejaBird in an interview how her world and that of her husband crumbled because they took loan from LCredit, an online loan operator.
She alleged that during the day and night she received threat messages and curses from agents of LCredit.
She contemplated suicide, but remembering that her new baby would suffer, she balked at the idea.
It was that bad.
“We took the LCredit loan for 15 days. It came with massive interest, but we had no choice. When we could not pay back on the due date, the threat messages were just too much. No matter how we tried to appeal, it fell on deaf ears. We kept on begging, all to no avail.
In fact, I thought of committing suicide when my husband was not around. But I had to change my mind because of my suckling baby. I have been hanging on.”
Aduloju disclosed that at some point, one of the agents rained causes on her and her family, telling her not to beg him.
“I was dumbfounded. He mounted pressure on me such that I had to start borrowing from family and friends to pay part of the money,” she said.
With the loan adding up everyday, Aduloju noted that she kept trying to pay in instalments, but she got the shock of her life when one of her contacts called her regarding the message LCredit sent to threaten her.
“A lady in my neighborhood whose contact I saved because I buy plastics from her called to inform me of LCredit threatening her because I took a loan which I refused to pay. I told her to disregard the threat.
“Later, I discovered they had sent messages to all my contacts despite paying in instalments, with the overdue charges piling up daily.”
She also noted that the same treatment was meted out to her husband who had already been paying in installments.
Aduloju said taking loans from online operators (also called loan sharks) was tantamount to enslaving oneself. She urged people to desist to avoid embarrassment and disgrace.
“The Federal Government should regulate their activities of loan sharks, I doubt if they are registered. They are faceless people and their mode of operation leaves much to be desired. They encroach on your privacy and even threaten to block your BVN. It is terrible.”
CBN to deal with illegal money lenders
In January, Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, warned Nigerians against illegal money lenders.
“The bank is making effort to stop loan sharks, and when these people are found they will be dealt with mercilessly.”
“We can only continue to advise that there is no need to go for loan sharks. The central bank has put in place the avenue through which you can raise your finance,” he said.
