Bank debtors

An anti-corruption group, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, has said chronic bank debtors were sabotaging the nation’s economy.

The group also called on concerned authorities to sanction any errant bank involved in the ongoing debt crisis, if it did not follow laid down guidelines.

In an interview with our correspondent on Friday, the Executive Director of CACOL, Mr. Debo Adeniran, commended the publication of names of debtors by some banks last week, describing it as “bold and proactive.”

He said the debtors and “their collaborating bankers should be seen, not only as corrupt elements but also as saboteurs of the nation’s economy.”

Adeniran alleged that the banks had been ignoring low-income citizens who form the larger part of the informal sector in the country which contributes a larger percentage to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product compared to the formal sector.

He also decried the practice whereby some banks discriminate against artisans, small and medium-scale loan applicants, regardless of the viability potential of their projects.

Adeniran said, “Prerequisites for qualifying for credit facilities should be relaxed and made more elastic in such a way that every innovative and developmental mind would cultivate a general sense of belonging in the economic arrangement of this country.”