The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission says it has frozen at least 30 bank accounts operated by illegal loan organizations in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by the Executive Vice Chairman of the commission, Mr Babatunde Irukera during a media briefing on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said that the commission has engaged Apple and Google to take down some loan applications from their stores.
Irukera also said the three major loan companies whose businesses were affected by the raid are being engaged by the commission.
“The day we conducted the raid, we have some limited information about the bank accounts that some of the loan companies operated.
“All the bank accounts that were provided were immediately blocked but these companies operate multiple bank accounts with multiple names.
“Between the time we raided and now, we have discovered additional 30 accounts and all these have been frozen and we will continue to freeze as we discover them.
“I am certain that with the actions that we have taken and the nature of the engagement we are having with the loan companies, atleast three of the major ones that their businesses have been severely affected by either our search or the account closure, they are modifying.
“It will take some time but I can assure you that the space is changing now,’’ he said.
Irukera frowned at the inability of most companies to effectively resolve consumer complaints. He said the commission is also considering writing a regulation that will penalise companies without compliant resolution mechanism.
“The reason why people are coming to us more is that they can’t find the people who sold stuffs to them.
“There is no standalone, clear, accessible, well publicised resolution platforms by these companies for people to reach them.
“What we are doing is that we are going to write regulations, if you do not have that, there will be a penalty,’’ he said.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
