The NIRSAL Microfinance Bank has requested for the payback of COVID-19 loans secured by entrepreneurs across Nigeria through the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Targeted Credit Facility (TCF).
This call was made by the financial institution on Twitter.
Following NIRSAL’s tweet request for the repayment of the loans, people have expressed mixed feelings, an indication that the financial institution may have a problem getting back most of the loans.
A Twitter user said, “@cenbank I don’t think many people have the means of paying, coz those that want to do business were not the ones given the loan, rather, some of your staff collected % from individual and randomly disbursing to those that will buy iPhones.”
Some lamented that they have not fully recovered from the pandemic. Stanleyoke with handle @OkerekeStanley3 “Covid-19 variance is still here with Us, the Economy is worst every day. There is no improvement and you are here talking about repayment. Can you please go to the market and check the prices of Food?”
In addition, some do not know how to go about the process of repayment of the loans. A Twitter user disclosed how he unsuccessfully tried several times to make transfer to the NIRSAL account he was given. Another complained about NIRSAL not responding to emails since he has been trying hard to get the bank to educate him on a breakdown of the loan repayment.
Some stated that the possibility of recovering the loans is very slim except the Global Standing Instruction (GSI) will be invoked. Because most people that received the loan don’t have the means to pay back.
Under the GSI, a bank client will no longer be able to accept a loan or credit from one bank and refuse to pay it back while maintaining many other bank accounts with sufficient credit balances to pay off the amount owed to the first bank.
What you should know about the loan
As part of the stimulus package announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy and businesses, the apex bank introduced an N50 billion Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) in March 2020, to support households and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that have been affected by the pandemic.
The facility from CBN, which is to be disbursed through the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank Ltd (NMBL), had recorded about 80,000 applications as at April.
Nairametrics
