₦airaland Forum

Sometimes the traders don't invest what they borrow. My hairdresser once used her borrowing for Aso ebi n. Shoes with hope to pay back from daily income.
To watch better drama of gurumi,zegi, lapo,seap etc abeg visit Akure

AHCB:
that's what they're good at. I believe they do these things to toughen up their stuff. Even their female employees are amazon warriors when it comes to collecting back loans given.

I've seen them in action first hand. When they turn on their crase, men its something else.

I seriously advice any SMSE to shun these MFB if they're really looking for loan to start up something, they should try getting it from Jaiz bank. Atleast they don't collect interest and they're not ruthless like LAPO and the others.

Jaiz Bank is not that easy, you MUST have a current account with them for at least 3 years

Lapo are fraudster in the name of Mfb

Cuteamigo1:
I dint read this long epistle. But I don't want anything to do with borrowing money from banks

You will never borrow money from bank and you're planning to make it big In life. You never ready! Go outside there and ask those billionaires if they can do without borrowing...

Before you take loan you should have a plan on ground on how to pay back.

You should not collect loans and use it to feed the family or use it to do party.

Loan is meant for business alone

Gbe epon le lantern is also very painful

GoodMuyis:
Nigeria love to borrow money with zero pre-payment plan, I raise 5k twice for 2 women from my pocket for small biz and they finish it in less in few months

You mean minutes or months?
5k for small biz? Please what kinda biz?

GoodMuyis:
Nigeria love to borrow money with zero pre-payment plan, I raise 5k twice for 2 women from my pocket for small biz and they finish it in less in few months

Oga please what can 5000 buy?

iammo:


Yet PDP wants APC to stop trader money,

for Nigerian economy to strive, it needs SMEs to access low interest loans from the money market ... and double digit monthly interest repayment is not feaseable for many business models.

there is no SMEs except drug business or yahoo yahoo where you must make over 20% of your capital monthly to service a loan, after paying rent, electricity bill and transport

You eat PDP, breathe PDP, sleep on PDP and wake up on PDP. You no dey tire?

The trader moni sef how many people e reach? BTW I no dey see trader moni disbursements now oo SMH

Like putting your fluffy succulent breasts on a lit gas cooker.

one of the major reasons why most of these MFB officers look cruel is coz their bonus or salary is attached to the client's payment. in most cases the bonus carries higher percentage of their monthly income. more so, the client's PAR also affects the officer's monthly evaluation at work. Na everybody dey look for something to chop nobody wan loose. make God bless our economy.

bishopkay:
You eat PDP, breathe PDP, sleep on PDP and wake up on PDP. You no dey tire?

The trader moni sef how many people e reach? BTW I no dey see trader moni disbursements now oo SMH

Trader moni get website naa, abi you want them to come knock your door?

bishopkay:
You eat PDP, breathe PDP, sleep on PDP and wake up on PDP. You no dey tire?

The trader moni sef how many people e reach? BTW I no dey see trader moni disbursements now oo SMH

Trader moni get website naa, abi you want them to come knock your door?

And before i end my comment.... shame shame shame on PDP

flowx:
You will never borrow money from bank and you're planning to make it big I like. You never ready! Go outside there and ask those billionaires if they can do without borrowing...

Alot of them when they started borrowing they dint do so from banks. There is a certain amount of money you make and banks will beg you to borrow from them. It's not always bad but I just feel the terms and conditions are too harsh.

Resigned as an area manager in one of them. I hope the government close them down. Ive seen horrible things. Useless people. Once you add their money to your life na straight decline. You go from bad to worse. Ive seen comfortable people who borrowed become beggars. How I dont know. Even my salary as huge as it was by 20th I'm begging for money from mom. When I resigned I dey flex pass when work dey.

Useless people

I can completely relate with this writer cous I presently work with 1 of the mfb as a branch manager ,I started as a credit officer ,the truth is mfb don't show mercy cous as a credit officer an unrepaid/defaulting loan becomes the trouble of the CO cous the money will b deducted from his/her salary ,imagine a CO havingover 300client base and 20default client with with weekly installment repayment of 2500*4weeks*20client=200000...this money will outrightly be deducted from there salary if at the end of the months the money doesnt come in from the member ....its funny but its the truth....n once ur default portfolio is high u can't get promotion.
I pass throught this hard method and survived ...thinking when I become bm since I'm not directly liable it will b better ,but trust me it's even worst cous wen a CO abscond from the default u too becomes liable, that explains y mfb have zero tolerance for default cous weather u like it all not u must continually disburse new loan with defaults or no defaults...and no body will be happy to work n at the end of the month noting to show for it .....if only members can comply and apply the loan to judicious use ...alot of members are also benefiting form this loan packages ,let's also tell the good part of this loan empowerment ,government alone cannot do it

lexxwiz:
You just had to quote the whole thing? Most Nigerians are fraustrated sha..

and most are so sadistic and dwell on dramas to exist on a daily basis hence they no longer have sense of humor...

The irony is they self styled themselves as the normal ones..

LaPo is not a loan but rather a burden meany to suffocate and strangle Nigerians. May God bless this country so that nigerians can proud of their country.

Rofo-rofo shakedown
I feel deeply sorry for them. Debt is a slow poison. Kills silently

I tried working as credit officer for just one month. I could not bear the pain, I willingly resigned despite not having any other means of livelihood as at then.

One particular scenario bother me so much then. A woman (secretary to a group) borrowed 100k, she used to further equipped her shop and after two months her her shop was burgled and almost everything was taken away by the burglars. She ran mad instantly because she borrowed money from three different microfinance institutions to equipped the shop to the level it was then.

When I took the case to my Branch manager, he said insurance cover only the dead member with death certificate. Therefore, I must get the money back by all means.

I just honourably resigned, thank God I was not the one that signed their disbursement form. I inherited the group.

prof2007:
“Gb’omu le’na” in Yoruba language, the dominant language in Nigeria’s South-west – literally means to place breasts on a lit lantern. It was coined by some Nigerians today to express the excruciating pain that comes with the repayment plans for loans drawn from some micro-finance banks (MFBs) or micro-finance institutes (MFI).

Borrowers, mostly petty traders and local artisans, constantly suffer palpitations as they strive to make their payments in weekly instalments. Defaulters are usually locked up in toilets or paraded in public to beg for alms.

From Ibadan to Ile-Ife, Osogbo to Ilesha, Ilorin to Abeokuta, and other major towns and villages across Nigeria, tension usually erupts among local traders at the mention of LAPO, which is an acronym for "Lift Above Poverty Organisation", a registered non-governmental poverty alleviation group, which has a microfinance bank as an affiliate.

According to its customers, LAPO registers clusters of groups, through which loans are disbursed to individuals. Arrowheads of the groups are appointed as leaders, and a semi-illiterate member is made the secretary. The groups, with usually range between 10 and 30 members, are managed by the bank’s credit officers (CO), who until lately are mostly secondary school leavers or holders of national diploma certificates. The rising unemployment situation has forced higher degree holders to take up what many describe as a demeaning job.

Minimum loan disbursed to first-time borrowers, according to operators, is N20,000 while N50,000 is the maximum. It could grow to as high as N300,000 if the borrowers have a history of not defaulting. But to be eligible for a loan, customers save with the bank 10 per cent of what they plan to borrow. They also pay for registration, insurance, forms, among others. Small loans are repaid in instalments for between 23 and 30 weeks, depending on the MFB or MFI. Each week, an average of N300 is also added to repayments as savings.

ELIGIBILITY
The secretary of Ibadan-based Halleluiah Group, a registered group with LAPO MFB, Raheem Ishola, said for a customer to be eligible for N50,000 loan, he or she will have to ”first save N5,000; pay N300 for Insurance, N1,150 for group registration, N200 for bank form, among other charges.”

“Such customer will then be paying N2,800 every week for 23 weeks, which is equivalent to six months. N300 out of the weekly payment is the customer’s savings,” Mr Ishola, a member of the association of Nigerian barbers, said.

CRUDE LOAN RECOVERY METHODS
Today, LAPO’s ‘booming business’ has attracted tens of such MFBs or MFIs joining the fray. The new entrants, including Grooming MFB, SEAP (Self Reliance Economic Advancement Programme) MFB, Grace and Mercy MFI, among others, have also introduced many schemes with various repayment plans, which many customers describe as hellish. Just like they call every seasoning Maggi, local Nigerian traders have replaced other MFBs’ or MFIs’ names with LAPO. But expressions on their faces, at its mention, signal pain and hardship.

Muiz Oyewole worked for ten months as a credit officer with Grace and Mercy MFI in Ilorin, Kwara State capital. His ‘ugly’ experience with customers forced him out of a job prematurely.
Muiz Oyewole, former Credit Officer, Grace and Mercy

He said: “Before I left, I had 320 savers and disbursed about N14 million. But the pains my clients used to go through to meet weekly repayment was frustrating. I used to counsel them, and for the first eight months, I recorded no default. Between my 9th and 10th month, my unpaid loan had grown to N16,500. (This was) Because any amount not paid would be deducted from salary at month ends. Since I couldn’t withstand public harassment of women old enough to be my mothers, I had to quit.”

Corroborating Mr Oyewole, a serving official of Grooming MFB, Gbagi branch, Ibadan, who asked not to be named, said deductions in salaries and other ‘unfair treatment’ suffered by credit officers over defaults were responsible for the crude loan recovery methods.

The official said: “Involving police to recover small loans could cost more than the loan. So, credit officers connive with groups’ leaders to ‘arrest’ defaulting customers and ensure that through whatever means, they repay their loans. Banks are unconcerned about recovery method applied as long as credit officers’ accounts are balanced. Group members, for some selfish reasons, also encourage the molestation of their colleagues. Defaulters’ goods are sometimes confiscated, or they may be paraded on streets or locked up in pit toilets. Sometimes defaulters are dragged to palaces or family heads for intervention.”

VICTIMS RECOUNT ORDEALS
Sekinat Ogunola, a seller of “Koko” (pap), lives in Maku community, Sawmill Area, Ibadan, Oyo State. She was on May 18 dragged to the streets within the neighbourhood over the N20,000 she owed Grooming MFB. According to the 36-year-old mother of four, she had just returned from the market on the fateful Saturday when some officials of the bank knocked on her door.

“I had only a blouse and a wrapper on when they came. The young man said he was from ‘Grooming.’ He didn’t know me before, but as soon as I confirmed my identity, he signalled his other colleagues and five others besieged me, pronto. They demanded the N20,000, but before I could say a word, they dragged me out. Hard times forced me into this mess. I once had a shop at Orita Merin where I was selling groundnut oil, but things changed so suddenly. I ignored shame and resolved to be selling ‘koko’ because it required little capital,” she said. Ms Ogunola’s eight-year-old daughter- Fareedah, cried as her mother was being pushed around.

Ms Ogunola’s husband, Musibau, a bricklayer, did not help matters. He reportedly abandoned the care of the four children to his wife.

“Our first child- Karimot, now 16 years old, has since been withdrawn from school and now a hairdressing apprentice,” Mrs Ogunola said. She said a hairdresser, identified simply as Iya Ibeji (mother of twins), introduced her to a cooperative group she leads. Not suspecting Iya ibeji’s motive, Ms Ogunola jumped at the offer.

“I said I only needed N20,000 to support my ‘koko’ business. Iya Ibeji said okay. She asked me to pay N1,150 for registration. Later, she asked for N5,000, saying by the third week I would be entitled to N50,000. She urged me to apply for N50,000, saying she would take the N30,000 and repay it,” Ms Ogunola said.

She said she paid about N11,000 to access the N50,000 loan in December 2018. Since then, every Monday, she had been paying N2,800 until April when ”she was broke”. Iya Ibeji reportedly did not pay a dime, but instead, ran away from the neighbourhood. Her whereabouts are unknown to date.

Rasheedat Sodiq from Oluode Compound, Osogbo, Osun State, was not lucky to tell her story. ‘Iya Mustapha,’ as she was fondly called, kept N100,000 loan borrowed from LAPO in April in her room ahead of the planned trip to Owena market the following day. But on the market day, she discovered that N40,000 was missing. The mother of three collapsed on the spot. Her children’s shout of ‘Maami (mother),’ alerted the neighbours who rushed her to an undisclosed hospital. She was treated for high blood pressure before she gave up the ghost less than 48 hours after she was admitted.

According to a family source, who asked not to be named, Rasheedat used to hoard kola nut during its season and resell during scarcity. “That was what she wanted to do with the loan,” the source said.

On her part, Badekale Taiwo, a hairdresser based in Lalupon, Ibadan, said she had taken LAPO loan twice but prayed never to have anything to do with it again. She said; “I was a member of Itesiwaju group under LAPO. I shared the first N50,000 I borrowed with a friend. The second time, I borrowed N80,000, but my friends who needed money to repay their loan took N60,000. You know some people are comfortable with debts.”

The hairdresser, who also sells drinks and children’s clothes, said blood pressure ‘almost killed her’ before she paid the N80,000. “As soon as I paid up in February, I said bye-bye to them. I haven’t even gone there to apply for my savings because of each time the office at Oki, around Olodo Area of Ibadan, the sight of defaulters being molested used to scare me.”
Different stroke

But Taye Nurudeen, a locust bean seller at Masopa village, Egbeda Area of Ibadan, said she has been able to manage the loans well. The mother of seven, including three sets of twins, accused defaulters of diverting their loans for other purposes. “LAPO loan cannot be used for anything else except the business. So those who use the money to buy clothes or organise a party, I don’t pity them when they lock them up in toilets. We have them in my group too.”

The leader of Ajebamidele group at Oke-Bale in Osogbo, Morili Hammed, said she had started with LAPO long ago, but due to rising cases of defaults, the group’s membership has been reduced from more than 40 to just 14. “Defaulters are our major troubles. I have been locked up by police in the past because of defaulters in my group. So I wouldn’t pity anyone disgraced publicly for defaulting. If they say, we shouldn’t take LAPO, where is the alternative?” Mr Hammed said.
Worried Monarch

Following cases of harassment of debtors by the banks frequently brought to his palace, the Ooni of Ife, Eniitan Ogunwusi, has kicked against the banks’ loan recovery methods. Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES, both the monarch’s spokesman, Moses Olafare, and his special adviser on empowerment and wealth creation, Lamide Awofile, confirmed that the Ooni paid debts on behalf of borrowers.

Mr Awofile said; “Day in, day out, people come to the palace to complain of being molested by these microfinance banks over an inability to repay the loan. You can imagine young boys in Sabo Area sleeping with married women so that they can repay loans. I can confirm to you that I witnessed that myself. I couldn’t believe it. The situation informed Kabiyesi’s decision to put in place various measures to help the people secure loans through either the Bank of Industry or Agriculture. The Ooni Ogunwusi Women Empowerment Micro Loan Scheme has also offered loan to not less than 300 women. We have also just graduated and equipped about 70 youths from our fashion institute.”

He said illiteracy and lack of adequate information had pushed many grassroots men and women in the bondage of the microfinance banks, “with their health negatively impacted.”

RIPPLE HEALTH EFFECT
Bello Olalekan is a senior registrar at the department of family medicine, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH), Osogbo. He said the history of many of his patients show that ”they are suffering from economic hardships, with a good number of them indebted to these microfinance banks or other schemes.”

He said; “Look at that young man at the waiting room, he is just 36 years old and he is suffering from hypertension. He has been running from pillar to post over the issue of a loan. Because there is no money to access hospital, he comes from Lagos regularly to see me here.”

But, a consultant cardiologist at the Ogbomosho branch of the hospital, Adeseye Akintunde, said it would be difficult to link loans from microfinance banks to rising cases of cardiovascular diseases. “There is no data to confirm that. But the truth is that hard times and lifestyles usually ignite all sorts of cases,” Mr Akintunde said.

CBN, LAPO REACT
An official of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the apex bank will investigate the matter and respond. Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES on the phone, the official, who identified himself as Bartholomew, said the apex bank would ”investigate the matter and respond appropriately. “But I will advise you send a mail detailing your questions to us,” he told our reporter.

On Monday, CBN acknowledged the mail sent in by the reporter requesting for a reaction to the report. The bank responded thus: ”Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate department for further action.” However, as at the time of filing this report, the bank is yet to send in its response.

Also speaking on behalf of LAPO, an agent, Jonathan Monday, said he would neither confirm nor deny the claim. He said the matter would require proper investigation. “This claim has not gotten to us before. So I will neither confirm nor deny it. It is a matter we will need to investigate,” Mr Monday said. He promised to get across to the ‘appropriate authority’ and report back to our reporter. He is yet to do so after almost two weeks.

Similarly, a representative of Grooming MFB, Akinrinde Akinwale, said he was not capable of responding to such matter. He asked our reporter to call back after 30 minutes for a response. The phone number has remained unavailable since then.

Meanwhile, a former head of risk management of Infinity Microfinance Bank, Lagos, who does not want to be named, confirmed the crude loan recovery methods by LAPO and other microfinance banks. He said the CBN ”could never have approved such practices.”

He said; “I retired as an MD of an MFB in Osun in 2016 and I can confirm to you that LAPO and a few others are notorious for such practices. Customers would rather keep their soup money for LAPO and go hungry. If you are supposed to make a payment today, you dare not defer it till tomorrow.

“What the CBN rule states are that your portfolio at risk, that is, the loan yet to be recovered as at the time you are preparing your report must not go above five per cent of shareholders’ fund. But in a situation where you have more than that, genuine reasons are still tolerated, especially when seasonal businesses are involved. The current business environment in Nigeria does not guarantee adequate sales to ensure prompt repayment of loans. So, banks are permitted to give customers grace.”

SOURCE: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/financial-inclusion/333583-breasts-on-lantern-agonies-of-borrowers-of-nigerian-micro-credit-loans.html

Am sorry for the borrowers that did not study about MFB and how they operate in other part of the world. everything in Nigeria is different and always pointing to criminality. In other nation's micro finance banks require you deposit 10% of amount you want to borrow and for example you deposit 5000 naira, the amount that will be given to you is 45,000 naira including your 5000 making total of 50K, and to pay you have to pay 49,500 at end of 60 working days. the bank profit here is 4,500 naira. But in Nigeria you pay 11,000 naira to have access to borrow 50,000 naira and paying 2800 weekly and 300naira for service charge making all you pay 74,000 naira. meaning that the bank profit to borrow 50,000 naira to you after 23 weeks is 24,000 not minding your 11,000 naira with bank as your saves. the borrower must be a mugu. ask people that know better than you before going into some agreement. Nigeria and fraud all department are in fraud business.

Olayinka8793:
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae.The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit any porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef,but the wrod as a wlohe. Lkie if you Raed this peferct�

You have given me material for training, in case you don't know!

How will a country economy grow when people take loan, start business and start living large before the business grow

Olayinka8793:
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae.The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit any porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef,but the wrod as a wlohe. Lkie if you Raed this peferct�

LA duru nka tianso

i know a woman in shomolu who faked her death cos of lapo loan and left lagos for ibadan. i hear say dem dey use jazz gv dem loan so as nt to be able to repay,is it true

Hmmn !
Harsh reality .
Fact is truly stranger than fiction.

dominique:
Those MFBs can be very ruthless when it comes to retrieving loans.

don't forget Nigerians don't like servicing/paying debt

GoodMuyis:
Nigeria love to borrow money with zero pre-payment plan, I raise 5k twice for 2 women from my pocket for small biz and they finish it in less in few months

by 5 k you mean 5 thousand naira?

They are really helping the economy. If you know, you know.....attitude of borrowers is the problem!

dayleke:
You mean minutes or months?
5k for small biz? Please what kinda biz?

. You think is is impracticable?

A very junior friend tending to her father's shop approached me one day, and said she had an idea of selling fruits in a kiosk in her dad's space to make a little extra for herself. I thought it brilliant and offered a 'loan' of 6k, which she promised to repay in 4 months i think.

Mehn, long story short, her side hustle didn't last 6months and I only got back 3k. She don use hailing clear the balance. Every time she sees me, na broda broda!!

johnkay1:
I tried working as credit officer for just one month. I could not bear the pain, I willingly resigned despite not having any other means of livelihood as at then.

One particular scenario bother me so much then. A woman (secretary to a group) borrowed 100k, she used to further equipped her shop and after two months her her shop was burgled and almost everything was taken away by the burglars. She ran mad instantly because she borrowed money from three different microfinance institutions to equipped the shop to the level it was then.

When I took the case to my Branch manager, he said insurance cover only the dead member with death certificate. Therefore, I must get the money back by all means.

I just honourably resigned, thank God I was not the one that signed their disbursement form. I inherited the group.

......lol.,guy u got me laughing hard ,asin ehn u b bad guy ...now I believe u actually worked dere..na people like u dey create problem for bm run ...

olabeth:
Gbe epon le lantern is also very painful

It is "Omu".
Don't misinform the public!