As Nigerian deposit money banks begin to “name and shame” chronic debtors, some heavily indebted customers have begun bribing their way out of the debtors’ list.
This their latest overture was sequel to the expiration of the three-month grace period for debtors to pay up or damn the consequences, which expired on August 1, 2015.
Already, anxiety is mounting daily in the sector as defaulters run from pillar to post to stop their names from being published given its associated image dent for corporate entities and their managers.
Apart from the “name and shame” method, such debtors would be banned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from participating in the foreign exchange auction and the Nigerian securities market.
But prior to August 1, 2015, the debtors had taken the threat with levity saying it was one of such empty threats by the regulators, which banks often roll out to customers.
But when the banks began to publish names of the debtors at end of July, it caused no little stir in the system, thus prompting heavy debtors to wriggle out of the debtors’ list by way of bribery.
So far, the banks that have published and shamed their debtors include Enterprise Bank with over 102 debtors whose debts run into billions of naira; Heritage Bank, seven; Union Bank, 176; Fidelity Bank, 28; Stanbic IBTC 46; Skye Bank, 107; Sterling Bank, 61.
While 80 per cent of the debtors are corporate organisations, 20 per cent are big names in the society, including lawmakers and political bigwigs.
