CBN Threatens to Blacklist Loan Defaulters

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has revealed plans by the apex bank to blacklist loan defaulters from having access to further loans from any financial institution operating in the country.

Mr Emefiele made this disclosure at the close of the two-day annual retreat of the Bankers’ Committee held in Lagos on Sunday.

The apex bank chief said this move would be made using the Bank Verification Number (BVN) of customers with the banks.

Explaining the motive behind this development, Mr Emefiele said it was to ensure those in agriculture and the Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) sectors of the economy get access to funds.

The CBN boss remarked that those in the MSMEs constitute 95 percent of the businesses in the country, noting that helping them would create more jobs in the country.

“We do expect them (customers who take loans) to meet their own side of the bargain because we have a credit registry; their names will go into the black book if they don’t pay. If their names go into the black book if they don’t pay, it means they have ruined their credit ratings.

“This is because we also agreed at this meeting (the Bankers’ Committee) that we are going to raise the standard of credit bureau and credit reporting in this country.

“We are going to raise the standard to a point where there will be credit scoring for people who take bank loans. And when you are scored low or you are scored zero, we are going to use the BVN to block you from having access to any finance in the Nigerian banking or financial services industry,” Mr Emefiele said.

The annual retreat had in attendance the CBN governor, deputy governors, the chief executive officers of the Deposit Money Banks in the country, the chief executive officers of development finance institutions, and some key stakeholders in the financial services industry.

Also in attendance during the first day of the retreat were some state governors, namely: Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State and his counterparts in Kebbi and Jigawa states, Badaru Abubakar and Atiku Bagudu, as well as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh.