Debtors Africa – an independent searchable database of recalcitrant and delinquent debtors in Africa was launched into the market today, in addition a Debtors Report – a comprehensive analysis of the Debt/Non-Performing Loans Situation in the Nigerian Banking Industry was also presented for information.

The report which was done in partnership with Proshare, represents a culmination of a detailed review of the credit experiences of local Nigerian banks in the last two decades and reveals the challenges of a local lending cycle that has seen lenders become victims of the tyranny of bad and delinquent debtors.

The report makes a case for a new approach to the lending cycle to ensure that integrity, professionalism, and evidence-based best lending practices are strictly followed to guarantee the sustainability of the financial system and the prosperity of the larger economy.

Key highlights of the report include:

• The Industry & its Debt Position
• Definition of a delinquent debtor and how this has changed over the years including how banks end up with bad debtors
• The Sectors & Regions affected & Impact on GDP
• Provisions of the law as regards credit collection and recovery in Nigeria
• The AMCON approach, lessons learnt, and the way for banks to adopt a revised credit recovery framework
• Case Study of approaches adopted in recovering debt; and
• Fresh methods a New Approach offers to banks troubled by delinquent debts

The Full Report is available on www.debtorsafrica.com  

The Debtors Africa Website is a searchable database of delinquent borrowers which enables speedy assessment of the character of a prospective customer. Of equal importance is that investors can use the database as a starting node for assessing the quality of the management of a business they intend to either partner or invest in.

The searchable database is designed to allow contributors such as Banks, Loan FinTech and Credit companies, Cooperatives, Tax authorities, Private businesses, government agencies, utility providers, etc. list their delinquent debtors and their indebtedness on the platform as a contributor to the platform. With this listings, a moral and business burden is placed on delinquent borrowers as prospective lenders would use the library to fact-check the borrowing history of a loan applicant and use the history to set up a character rating index that would guide credit appraisal memorandums (CAMs) and inform acceptance or decline of credit requests.

By subscribing to the platform which is free, users are able to:

1. Search for Delinquent Debtors in Africa using the Company Name or the name of the Directors of a company
2. Track the repayment progress of a delinquent debt and other related information to the Debt
3. Receive and Monitor Credible and Reliable information on Debt Related Activities in Africa
4. Mine Delinquent Debtors Data by Sector, Amount Owed, and more

Over the years, the names of delinquent debtors have been published on various media platforms with no central portal to harness the information published or achieve the objective creditors desire, which is repayment and resolution. With DebtorsAfrica, the new model provides a central hub to access this information and goes beyond naming and so-called “shaming” to informing prospective creditors and other institutions that require character validation, while name removal from the database is subject to the review and removal by the contributor after debt resolution is attained.

Unlike the days when banks published their delinquent debtors list on online digital  platforms in which they had no control of content update, modification and removal , the DebtorsAfrica platform puts the burden on creditors who are expected to take the action of delisting themselves further to showing proof of resolution, such that it also serves as an independent check on contributors who may choose to delist a debtor based on mutually agreed terms of settlement .

The emerging global economy requires more credit but it also requires more confidence in the credit-to-debt-to-credit loop. The stronger the integrity and the deeper the financial resources that support the loop the better the financial system and economy becomes. The spread of the digital economy, big data, artificial intelligence and informatics will lead to new approaches of credit evaluation, initiation, monitoring, and recovery.

For any enquiry, kindly call 0700DEBTORS (+234-700-332-8677) or send an email to: info@debtorsafrica.com or support@debtorsafrica.com

You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram

Kindly download the Executive Summary HERE and the FULL REPORT HERE

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With 87 million Nigerians living on less than $1.90 a day (from the World Data Lab’s Poverty Clock), Nigeria is considered the poverty capital of the world. It is projected that this figure will rise by 30 million by 2030 and all before we were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Lagos alone, the epicenter of the pandemic over 12 million struggle to feed their families daily.

Against this backdrop and in support of the efforts of both the Government and corporate entities the employees of Oando, popularly known as the #HumansOfOando have conceived an innovative solution, The Aggregator Platform (TAP), with the long term goal of ending hunger and alleviating poverty across the nation, one community at a time, through structured intervention.

READ MORE: From pandemic to poverty: Nigeria’s future with COVID-19

The employees of Oando identified that despite the financial contributions and efforts made by the public and private sector as well as Non-Governmental Agencies (NGOs) in feeding the less
privileged there is still a huge gap between those who are in dire need and those who are eventually reached and fed. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it glaringly obvious to all that the poverty crisis cannot be solved by the Government alone. Despite the social palliative measures being implemented by the Government, food relief materials being provided by NGOs and financial contributions from private sector players it still doesn’t seem to be enough. For the
employees of Oando, COVID-19 brought home the realisation that every single individual who has the means, must play an active role in alleviating poverty in Nigeria. Through TAP, the #HumansOfOando aim to rally well-meaning individuals both locally and internationally as well as more corporates to make this a nationwide cause.

The first step in this journey is addressing the food problem in Lagos state. To this end TAP uses data gathered from NGOs, also called Implementing Partners to populate an interactive map that gives donors a bird’s eye view of different communities in the state and their feeding needs; it goes a step further by making it possible for a donor to select the specific community or communities they want their donationso to go to. As aggregator, TAP then disburses raised funds to the Implementing Partners while ensuring through monitoring and evaluation that the residents of these identified communities are fed accordingly.

TAP’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is that it is a single point of coordination for both potential donors and NGOs to realise the desired impact of reaching millions of Nigerians who are in desperate need of feeding. The ultimate success of TAP will be a combination of donations and a database of credible NGOs to successfully implement feeding programs in marginalised communities.

Since going live at the end of March the #HumansOfOando alongside other donors, through the TAP website taptoreachall.org have raised over N25 million and signed up nine NGOs including Lagos Food Bank, Project Ark, Child Protection Network, Grocedy, Lekki Food Bank and Abraham’s Tent to name a few, with an intent to sign one more NGO by May 22.

With funding from TAP, these 9 implementing partners will feed over 24,000 Lagosians across 16 of the most deprived communities over a one month period. As at Wednesday, May 20, 2020 about 21,000 people had already been fed with the balance 3,000 to be reached and fed by the end of May.

TAP has brought to the fore the fact that with as little as N350 you can feed one person for one day. The platform is encouraging well-meaning Nigerians to take on the challenge of ending hunger in the country by donating to the initiative, specifically to donate to feed one for a week, month or even a year. By reiterating how little it costs to feed one the #HumansOfOando hope that they will be able to encourage more individuals to not just give but to do so on a monthly basis and spread the word to their inner circle to do the same, creating a ripple effect of change.

READ MORE: UPDATED: Nigeria’s inflation rate rises to 12.34% as COVID effects bite harder

Commending TAP during a food disbursement drive, Mrs. Okoro, the Lagos Coordinator of Child Protection Network (CPN) said; “The people are hungry so feeding them gives us joy and we are very grateful to the employees of Oando for supporting us. At CPN, we’ve been feeding people from the onset of the lockdown. We’ve been going to different places, soliciting for donations for food for the people. We started with cooked food which we distributed to people in Oshodi, Ojuelegba, Ibeju-Lekki, Eti-Osa, Apapa, Somolu, Alimosho. So, we are grateful to the
#HumansOfOando for collaborating with us to enable us serve even more people.”

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Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, a member of one of the impacted communities, Edatomola Arowojolu, expressed his appreciation on behalf of the community to the employees of Oando, the TAP platform, those who had donated and CPN for the disbursement of food, for their kind gesture to the residents and lauded the impact of the exercise, which according to him, was a huge success.

Mrs. Adekemi Adeyeye, Executive Director, Finance and Administration for Huffped thanked TAP for the donations which has enabled them feed over 400 people in the Majiudn-Awori community, Ikorodu, Lagos. A benefactor of the food donation in Majidun-Awori community, Agbado Oluwatosin, also thanked TAP and Huffped on behalf of nursing mothers and pregnant women in the community, for coming to their aid.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: AfDB unveils $10 billion facility for Nigeria, others

Through TAP the #HumansOfOando have a fundraising target of N2.7 billion as the first phase of the deployment with an initial focus of feeding over 2 million individuals resident in Lagos; and this will very quickly be ramped up to all of Lagos and eventually the whole of country.

Explaining the dynamics of TAP in an interview with CNN’s Julia Chatterly, Dr. Ainojie Irune, Chief Operating Officer, Oando Energy Resources said; “The TAP platform allows donors to come onboard and identify what communities they want to help and open up the entire food needs space so that together we can close that gap. We are encouraging people to partner and donate so we can disperse the funds and through our Implementing Partners provide food to those that really need it.”

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The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is pulling out all the stops and leaving no stones unturned in her campaign to galvanize Nigerians in the battle to stop the spread, and ultimately win the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak, which was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, has since become a global pandemic, spreading to almost every country in the world, including Nigeria.

With the campaign funded by the NNPC-IPPG team, an association of Indigenous Oil and Gas Producing Companies, and buoyed by its mandate to tackle the challenge of public health epidemics through prevention, detection and control, NCDC has taken the #TakeResponsibility awareness campaign against the Covid-19 virus a notch higher with the newly launched multi-language mass media campaign.

The new #TakeResponsibility campaign, disseminated pan-Nigeria in Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Pidgin and English languages across Print, Radio and Social Media platforms, is premised on the key NCDC guidelines and safety precautions to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The safety precautions include washing of hands frequently with soap under running water for 20 seconds; or using alcohol-based sanitizer where water is not readily available; coughing or sneezing into tissue and disposing same into a dustbin immediately or coughing or sneezing into the elbow.

Other guidelines involve the practice of social distancing, such as avoiding large crowds; keeping physical contact to no less than 2 meters and wearing a face mask whenever one is in a public space; cleaning all surfaces frequently with disinfectants and avoiding fake news about the virus by getting information only from official sources (like the NCDC and WHO).

Also critical is the advice for people to stay in their states and if a traveler returns from a trip abroad, such an individual should self-isolate for 14 days and if he/she develops symptoms like frequent cough, sneezing, fever or shortage of breath, the individual should call his or her State Emergency Number or NCDC’s toll-free number: 080097000010, for immediate assistance.

Coronavirus, which affects all age groups, but mostly the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, etc., is primarily spread between and among people during close contact, often via small droplets produced by coughing, sneezing or talking.

According to NCDC-NNPC-IPPG partnership, the summary of all the Covid-19 guidelines and safety precautions is for Nigerians of every tribe and tongue, and non-Nigerians in the country to #TakeResponsibility by playing their part in the all-important race to halt and end the pandemic for the good of all.

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