FG Cracks Down On N544.2bn COVID-19 Loan Defaulters With GSI And CRMS

The NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NIRSAL-MFB), a Federal Government-owned institution, has taken steps to recover the N544.2 billion COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) that was disbursed to small, medium enterprises and individuals affected by the pandemic.

The bank has activated its Global Standing Instruction (GSI) and uploaded the details of all defaulting beneficiaries on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Credit Risk Management System (CRMS) to prevent them from accessing credits anywhere in the world.

The TCF was a stimulus package initiated by the CBN in 2020 to cushion the economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on households and businesses. The CBN had allocated N1.1 trillion for the scheme, out of which only N546 billion has been repaid as of September 2023.

To clamp down on the debtors, NIRSAL-MFB has uploaded the beneficiaries’ details, especially their names and Bank Verification Number (BVN) on the CRMS, a platform owned by CBN that contains information on the credit history and status of borrowers in the financial system. The bank has also invoked the GSI, a policy that allows banks to debit the accounts of loan defaulters across all banks in Nigeria.

According to the Head of Corporate Communications of NIRSAL-MFB, Halimatu Lawal, the GSI and CRMS measures have been effective in compelling some beneficiaries to service and gradually offset their loans.

She told The Nation that some beneficiaries who have left the country now find it impossible to access credits from their banks because their identities have been flagged on the CRMS as owing NIRSAL-MFB.

She said that some beneficiaries who have liquidated their loans are asking for letters of non-indebtedness and their names removed from the platform. She added that NIRSAL-MFB will use all means to recover its money, including the GSI, unless the government tells it to stop.

Lawal explained that NIRSAL-MFB is a business run purely like any other commercial bank that receives deposits and from the perspectives of the shareholders it is purely private. She said that the bank will not relent in its drive to recover the loans.

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