The Central Bank Of Nigeria is set to recover all loans granted as part of the COVID-19 intervention to some categories of Nigerians to cushion the harsh socio-economic realities, but some beneficiaries of the facility are showing concern about the “act” of recovery.
A beneficiary, Fatimah Alli, said that the sudden move to recover her N500,000 COVID-19 loan had worsened her financial challenges.
“I got a loan of N500,000 in 2020 to cushion the economic effects of COVID-19. But at that time, we were assured that we would not be required to repay the money.
“But recently, all the money in my bank account was removed by the CBN as part of the loan recovery drive,” she said.
Another beneficiary of the TCF, Abbas Sule, also complained about arbitrary loan deductions from his bank account.
“When I was granted the loan facility in 2020, the bank official that processed the release through NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB), got a commission of N50,000, and I was paid N450,000.
“Now they want me to repay N500,000, that is not fair,” he said.
The MFB revealed that it had given out loans worth N503 billion to more than 881,081 Nigerians and business operators to cushion the effects of the pandemic.
