The scarcity of the new naira notes has forced several Nigerians to make use of mobile apps of commercial banks, a development that has led to some of the banking apps crashing.
Since the beginning of this week, customers of major banks in the country have been having unpleasant experiences while trying to transfer funds or perform any form of transaction on their mobile apps.
Many Nigerians have now become stranded due to the non-availability of cash in ATMs and even over the counter, while transactions on the apps have become a nightmare.
While in many cases, the apps do not open at all, in cases where they open, making a transfer becomes impossible. In other instances where the customer can transfer, the intended receiver does not get credited and this becomes a problem.
Aside from the apps, pressure has also been on the USSD, which is an alternative transaction channel, leading to an increase in failed transactions over the channel.
A bank customer, Olawale Samuel said he has not been able to open his banking app since Wednesday. Sharing his experience, he said:
“After I had tried to withdraw cash from the ATM without success, I approached the PoS woman in my area, even though I heard they now charge N500 to give you N5,000 and I was ready to pay that to buy what I needed and have some cash in my pocket. Unfortunately, she said she no longer had cash as well. I went to the shop where I wanted to buy something and made a purchase of N2,000 with the hope of paying through transfer, my app refused to open and I had to return what I bought. This is frustrating. I have been trying to open my app since yesterday and until now, I keep getting an error message each time I try.”
Another bank customer who identified himself as Chuks said his attempt to buy recharge card on his bank app failed and the money has not been reversed since Monday.