Nigeria, June 6 -- "Gb'omu le'na" in Yoruba language, the dominant language in Nigeria's South-west - literally means to place breasts on a lit lantern. It was coined by some Nigerians today to express the excruciating pain that comes with the repayment plans for loans drawn from some micro-finance banks (MFBs) or micro-finance institutes (MFI).

Borrowers, mostly petty traders and local artisans, constantly suffer palpitations as they strive to make their payments in weekly instalments.

Defaulters are usually locked up in toilets or paraded in public to beg for alms.

From Ibadan to Ile-Ife, Osogbo to Ilesha, Ilorin to Abeokuta, and other major towns and villages across Nigeria, tension usually erupts among local traders at the mention ...