The Federal Government will issue new laws for the digital lending industry through the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in 2024.
In the wake of increased default rates, these policies are intended to strengthen debt recovery techniques in the country.
Babatunde Irukera, the Commission’s Chief Executive Officer, confirmed this in an interview with TVC.
Despite the FCCPC’s lowered incidence of harassment in the industry, Irukera noted that there are still substantial levels of default among Nigerians.
He said, “One of the big issues that we are seeing is that there is now a significant level of loan default because people are not able to use these unethical and inappropriate loan recovery mechanisms, and I am insistent that you cannot say to me that the only language Nigerians understand is to abuse them. No, I disagree.
“We must necessarily do the work no matter how hard it is to find a more sensible way to recover loans because I also agree that if these digital money lenders are unable to recover their loans and drop out of the market, it is a consumer protection problem because of those who need those types of short-term unsecured lending.
“So, we have to find the balance, and so some of the regulations that will come out in 2024 will be a broader approach to responsible borrowing and responsible lending by individuals and corporates. I am hopeful that the future of what we’re building is that even school landlords will be able to report to a centralized credit system about the conduct of tenants, students, and parents so that we can know each person’s level of fiscal responsibility or credit wordiness.”
According to the FCCPC, it has decreased harassing and libellous texts in the industry by almost 80%.
Irukera said, “India, Kenya, Brazil, Ghana, and Uganda are still struggling with digital lending. Some of these countries are taking lessons from what we have done.”
