Christian Ethical Response to The Challenges of Digital Financial Borrowing in Nigeria
Fadare, Adewale Abiodun
Doctoral Student at Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso
Abstract
Digital financial borrowing is the money borrowed online through digital mobile applications, platforms or phones that are offered by financial lenders using the Internet. Due to the advancement in financial technology, banking and financial services and operations have been digitalized. The emergence of digital finance has rebranded banking and financial borrowing access and opportunities. People can now borrow money online, digitally and seamlessly. This development is applaudable because it eases traditional banking operations burdens and removes bottlenecks in borrowing and lending to finance business and personal needs. However, the attendant experiences from digital financial borrowing are worrisome and pose challenges to human well-being in developing economies, especially among Christians in Nigeria. Some of the experiences of digital financial borrowers are poor loan repayment, which may be due to high interest, breach of personal data policy and social shaming of defaulted borrowers by lending companies’ employees. The unvirtuous motives and characters of some borrowers, professionally unethical attitudes and loan recovery strategies are responsible for these challenges. This paper gives an overview of digital financial borrowing in Nigeria and discusses digital financial borrowing, which is characterized with features such as instant, automation, remote, consumer loans and short maturity. The paper argues that digital financial borrowing has assisted financial inclusion and contributed to Nigeria’s digital economy, it has however negatively impacted on borrowers’ personal, emotional, mental, marital, business, spiritual and moral well-being due to poor repayment or inability to repay, high interest, and social shaming of customers by digital loan officers. The paper concludes that Christians should act virtuously and ethically according to biblical instructions when dealing in financial borrowing, wisdom, honesty, godliness, discretion, patience and mutual respect are among Christian virtues to display in financial borrowing decisions, actions and relationships. It recommends that churches and church leaders should encourage financial education and literacy that enhance credit understanding and boost Christians’ financial wellness. It also recommends that Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, with other financial regulatory bodies in Nigeria should regulate the operations of lending companies and enforce acceptable professional work ethics and attitudes of digital lending companies’ employees to enhance friendly relationships with customers.
Keywords: Financial Borrowing, Digital Financial Borrowing, Financial Technology, Christian Ethics
Impact Statement
The research asks, “What are the challenges of digital borrowing especially among Christians in Nigeria, and how should Christians ethically respond to those challenges?”
This study has market and non-market benefits. It advocates for proper ethical and courteous consideration for digital financial borrowers’ mental, emotional, financial, and social well-being by the lending companies’ management and staff at all lending processes or stages. Hence, the challenges of high interest rates, poor repayment attitudes by the borrowers, breach of clients’ data policy, and social shaming of borrowers that are possibly resulting in problems such as depression, stroke, social ostracism and abandonment, suicide attempts, family/marital crises and bankruptcy will be minimised among Christians in the society.
The research will help religious bodies, particularly Christians, to virtuously act according to the teachings of the Bible when engaging in financial borrowing and credit services. It encourages Church leaders to support financial/credit literacy or education and teach Christian virtues for members to cultivate in business and market relationships with financial players.
It assists financial regulatory bodies, consumer organisations, labour unions, human resources firms, and the government to improve their oversight functions/roles to check avoidable excesses of erring lending companies, their staff, and borrowers.
It will improve confidence in the financial inclusion efforts of all stakeholders in the Nigerian economic ecosystem when there is a healthy relationship between the financial institutions, clients, and guarantors. It helps further studies and assessments on other aspects of digital financial borrowing in Nigeria to be carried out with recommendations that may improve digital financial services to be friendlier and profitable to all the parties involved.
About The Author
Adewale Abiodun Fadare is a Gospel Minister and finance expert for more than a decade. He was a Senior Credit Analyst in international finance organisations such as AB Bank Nigeria Ltd (A member of Access Holding AG, Germany) and Credit Supervisor in Baobab Nigeria Ltd (a member of PlaNet Finance, France).
He holds a Master of Divinty in Theology from the Nigerin Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso, Nigeria, Advanced Leadership Certificate from Haggai Institute USA, MBA in Financial Management from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso Nigeria and BSc. Ed (Accounting) from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State Nigeria. He is a member of Nigeria Institute of Management and Chartered Institute of Risk and Loan Management and others.
He is currently a PhD candidate specializing in Christian Ethics and Pastoral Care and Counselling at the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. One of his published articles is “Engaging Social Media for Moral Development of Teenagers Through Christian Preaching” Theonomics Series, Volume 2, (Ibadan: BP Limited), 2024.
Adewale A. Fadare is married to Olabisi and the marriage is blessed with children.
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