EDGY OPTIMIST BY Obinna Chima Nigeria’s transition to a cash-less economy has been one of the country’s most remarkable financial success stories. From cash reduction, ease of payment, financial inclusion, improving the effectiveness of monetary policy in managing inflation, supporting economic growth, convenience, efficiency, among several others, the benefits of a cash-less society far outweigh its demerits. That is why as part of efforts to sustain its gains, successive leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have made efforts to ensure that policies around Nigeria’s payment system vision remain formidable. Today, electronic transfers remain the preferred means of payment for millions of Nigerians when they go into supermarkets, restaurants, hospitals, pharmacies, filling stations and when they deal with artisans. The country is one of Africa’s largest digital payments ecosystems, with electronic payment transactions running into over N3 quadrillion annually, billions of instant payment transactions processed every year, and one of the continent’s fastest-growing fintech industries. However, hidden beneath this success story is an emerging form of internal fraud that deserves urgent attention from business owners, regulators and customers alike. Today, there are reported cases whereby when a customer arrives at a store in Lagos and some other cities in Nigeria, to purchase an item, when it is time to make payment, the cashier brings out a point-of-sale (PoS) terminal, pretends as if he or she is attempting to process the payment and suddenly announces that the company’s account is experiencing “network failure.” Before the customer even suggests to transfer the money or decides to make transfer to the account, the cashier quickly brings out a personal account number and assures you that the money will be transferred to the company later. Pressed for time and anxious to leave, many customers comply. The transaction is completed and the customer walks away. From petrol stations and supermarkets to pharmacies, hotels, restaurants, cinemas, hospitals, courier companies, beauty salons, electronics stores and even some private schools, this practice is becoming disturbingly common. What many customers perceive as a genuine network glitch in some instances is an avenue to divert the company’s revenue into personal accounts. A friend who attended Kennyblaq’s concert at Eko Hotels last month was shocked when he arrived at the venue and was made to make payment into someone’s account all in the name of “network failure,” and because he arrived for the concert late, he quickly responded and went in. For some businesses, this practice goes unnoticed until stock begins to disappear without corresponding sales receipts and their revenue begins to drop. As customers, we should be concerned when an employee substitutes the organisation’s official account with a personal account without proper authorisation. Once money enters into a personal account, the customer has no guarantee that it will ever reach the organisation. Ironically, this practice thrives because some dishonest employees exploit the weakness within Nigeria’s digital payment infrastructure. Network disruptions remain an unfortunate reality. Banking applications occasionally fail and at times, payment transfers are delayed. Interestingly, this was the focus of a recent policy report launched by The Bridgforte Centre for Global Impact titled, ‘Trust Architecture in Platform-led Finance,’ which highlights that Nigeria’s cash-less policy depends on public confidence in electronic payments. The further report further argues that trust in transactions is shaped by how institutions respond when payments fail, disputes arise and customers seek redress. It reveals that for every successful transfer completed in seconds, there is another customer waiting days for a failed transaction to be reversed. For every digital lending platform expanding access to credit, there are growing concerns over data privacy, algorithmic decision-making and consumer protection. Fraud continues to evolve alongside innovation, while customer confidence is often tested not by the sophistication of technology but by how institutions respond when things go wrong. Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Founder of Bridgeforte, Aishah Ahmad, stressed the need to strengthen trust in the payment system while allowing innovation to flourish. Rather than focusing on expanding access, the new report argues that the next frontier of financial inclusion should be to enhance confidence—confidence that digital platforms will work reliably, institutions will resolve disputes fairly, regulators will protect consumers and technology will operate transparently.
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