One of the few habits Nigerians picked up during the cash scarcity caused by Meffy’s Naira redesign is a dependence on cashless transactions. However, on April 11, 2023, many Nigerians were frustrated and stranded due to a glitch in the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).
This glitch was due to a network failure which affected many banks and fintech apps. As a result, many people were inconvenienced as they couldn’t carry out their daily transactions, particularly interbank transfers.
But what’s NIBSS, and why is it essential to the banking system?
The NIBSS is owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and all licensed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. It handles electronic funds transfer
So, to put it simply, if there’s a fault with NIBSS, the whole country goes to a standstill like we witnessed yesterday.
ZikokoCitizen spoke to some people who experienced the downtime yesterday, and here’s what they had to say:
Anna*
“I had no idea there was a general issue with banks. In fact, up until yesterday, I didn’t know what the NIBSS was. I was trying to buy food online and noticed it wasn’t going through. I used another card, but again, the transaction failed.
I decided to give up on lunch and focus on my work, but I had run out of data. I sent money to another bank account to buy data, but the transfer didn’t go through, so the afternoon ended with me being hungry and unproductive.”
Zainab*
“On my way back from work yesterday, I sent money from a Fintech savings app to my bank account, but it didn’t reflect, and I had to pay a cab driver. Fortunately, my roommate was around and had enough cash to help me out”.
Joshua*
“I initiated a transaction yesterday with my bank to another Fintech app. I’ve been debited by the bank, but the money still hasn’t been reflected. I’ve also found it difficult to open the app”.
It might be time for the CBN to look into creating an alternative system for online transactions if Nigeria’s truly serious about translating to a cashless society.
