Online Loan Sharks in Trouble As FG Begins Massive Crackdown, Raids GoCash, Okash, EasyCredit, LCredit Others

Online Loan Sharks in Trouble As FG Begins Massive Crackdown, Raids GoCash, Okash, EasyCredit, LCredit Others

The Federal Competition Consumer Protection Commission has raided some illegal financial institutions operating on Opebi Road, Ikeja, Lagos

This was done in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, the Nigerian Police Force among others

The operation led by the commission’s boss, Babatunde Irukera, was in response to several complaints of malpractices on the part of the lenders


Online Loan Sharks in Trouble As FG Begins Massive Crackdown, Raids GoCash, Okash, EasyCredit Among Others

The Federal Competition Consumer Protection Commission has raided some illegal financial institutions operating on Opebi Road, Ikeja, Lagos
This was done in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, the Nigerian Police Force among others
The operation led by the commission’s boss, Babatunde Irukera, was in response to several complaints of malpractices on the part of the lenders
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The federal government has finally commenced the regulation of Nigeria's online loan companies by raiding some of the loan sharks.

This raid was carried out by the Federal Competition Consumer Protection Commission, in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, National Information Technology Development Agency, and the Nigerian Police Force.

The loan sharks are reportedly guilty of violation of consumer rights.

The operation led by the commission’s boss, Babatunde Irukera, was in response to several complaints of malpractices on the part of the lenders.

The companies – GoCash, Okash, EasyCredit, Kashkash, Speedy Choice, Easy Moni – owned by Blue Ridge operate on the third floor of a four-storey building in the area.

Addressing the press, Mr Irukere said the loan companies rose to prominence due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 lockdown.

He said:

"This information started quite a while ago. Some time ago, when the country was on lockdown in 2020 due to the pandemic, we started seeing the rise in money lenders”

Because there was lockdown due to the pandemic, people needed small easy loan which is understandable. But over a period of time, people started complaining about the malpractices of the lenders, so we started tracking it”
“Towards the end of last year, we gathered quite a lot of information. We started working with some other key agencies and the FCCPC led the meeting where we all agreed there would be a joint effort to look into these businesses.”

The key two things that were subject of concern were what seems to be the naming and shaming violation of people’s privacy with respect to how these lenders recover their loans.”

“Secondly, the interest rate seems to be a violation of the ethics on how lending is done. So, those were the two things that we set out to look for.”
“So, we started an investigation trying to determine the location of these firms. That has been a very difficult thing. We did that for several months and some of them have moved from one place to the another and we have been visiting these places for months”