The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has deleted over 180 registered loan apps otherwise known as Digital Money Lenders (DMLs) from its website. The commission said they were removed for ‘clean-up.’ “The list is undergoing a clean-up and will be made available as soon as possible,” the message on the FCCPC website reads.

Recall that in July 2023, the executive vice-chairman, FCCPC, Babatunde Irukera, while speaking on Arise News Channel, vowed to delete apps of operators of digital lending apps who defame and harass Nigerians in an attempt to recover loans. Irukera stated that once a loan app has been delisted due to consumer harassment, there would not be a second chance, adding that genuine people in need of the loans should not be made to suffer frustrations to get loans.

He said: “we would make sure that any app that is on google but defames consumers would not have the opportunity to do legal business in Nigeria anymore. You cannot, because there is a high rate of default, begin to engage inappropriate ways of recovering loans. People who truly have a problem and those who don’t fail to make a payment should not be subjected to the inconvenience of frustrations or harassment that accompanies these defamatory messages.”