Mr Babatunde Irukera, the Chief Executive Officer of FCCPC
By BENJAMIN ORISEMEKE, Abuja –
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission ( FCCPC) say it has frozen the bank accounts of over 30 illegal loan companies operating in Nigeria.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Mr Babatunde Irukera, who stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, explained that between the time they raided offices of the companies and now, they have discovered additional 30 accounts and all have been frozen and they will freeze more accounts as they discover them.
According to him, the Enforcement Team is made up of the FCCPC, Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
He said the FCCPC is currently engaging three major loan companies whose businesses had been affected by its raid.
He further said the order became imperative as it had established inappropriate conduct or use of the application in violation of the rights of consumers.
In his words “Giving an update on the issue, Irukera said the Commission has ordered Google LLC (Play Store) and Apple Inc. (App Store) to enforce the withdrawal of certain applications belonging to illegal online banks operating in Nigeria.
“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.
“I am certain that with the actions that we have taken and the nature of the engagement we are having with the loan companies, at least three of the major ones that their businesses have been severely affected by either our search or the account closure they are modifying,” he said .
