FG Moves Against Loan Apps, Online Banks Over Violation of Users’ Data Privacy
- Loan apps which operate in the online hemisphere in Nigeria and violate data privacy of Nigerians will be probed by the Federal government of Nigeria
- The Director-General of National Information and Development Agency, Kashifu Inuwa said the agency is making moves to clampdown on them
- He said complaints from Nigerians have resulted in heavy fines being imposed on loan sharks in the country
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Loan apps that send unsolicited messages or call loan defaulters’ contacts are not going to have easy with the Nigerian government going forward.
This is as the Nigerian government has started to probe loan apps and banks that operate mainly online for violating customers’ data privacy.
Source: Getty Images
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What the federal government is saying
Kashifu Inuwa, the Director-General of National Information Development Agency made this revelation in Abuja on Monday, January 14, 2022. He said the agency was working with relevant security agencies like the police to investigate many lending outlets popularly called loan sharks.
According to Inuwa, the agency is working to make sure they address that challenge because it is not only the agency’s mandate but governs the operations of their operations
Inuwa said there is an agency that takes general complaints for such things as a violation of data privacy in Nigeria and that NITDA is responsible for such.
Sanctions against loan sharks
Following the public outcry of data privacy violation by Nigerians against lending platforms, the agency had imposed a fine of N10m on Soko Loan for data breach last August.
The Punch reports that last year November, NITDA collaborated with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to address the rising rates of data privacy misuse by money lending apps, particularly fintech firms.
Extreme measures by loan apps baffle Nigerians
Meanwhile, Legit.ng has reported that the activities of loan sharks masquerading as lending apps in Nigeria have left the majority in the country worried as the apps use crazy methods in chasing and recovering their loans.
In a Facebook post by one Onyinye Mmoh, one of the loan apps went to the extreme measures of designing the obituary of its creditor, one Azubuike Chinedu.
Another measure unlawful measure employed by another is declaring a creditor wanted and harassing contacts of those who owe them.
Source: Legit.ng
