Joy Musa, 34 year old single mother of three, walked into the banking hall looking downcast and apprehensive. She told the front desk clerk that her account had been debited three times for a transaction that had not reflected on the merchant’s Point of Sales (POS).
The transaction which should have been completed on the first try went on for three times and eventually proved abortive.
Joy’s belly roiled and she thought she might retch when the young banker told her it would take a week before the failed transaction would be reversed and her “I don’t have dime on me,” she said, alarm in her voice. “Today is Friday, how do l survive the weekend?”
She felt a chill run through her as the bank’s customer care representative told her there was nothing he could do to about the matter.
She watched the young man like a hawk and as she felt a deep throbbing pain in her chest. She calmed her frayed nerves, regained her composure and left the banking hall in disappointment.
Joy Musa’s experience mirrors the frustration felt by many Nigerians due to a torrent of failed transactions at the Automation Machine (ATM) and Point of Sales (POS) terminals.
A top bank executive who do not want her name mentioned said Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBBS) should be blamed for the situation because the settlement agency lacks the infrastructure to handle the volume of transaction that occur on a daily basis. “We got a message from NIBBS that a total of 15000 transactions we sent for processing had failed and the problem started since October. When we complain to the agency, they tell us they are upgrading their system,” said the banker.
The top executive said that the problem is only peculiar to Nigeria and that in other countries there is no central body that controls transactions between lenders.
“In the month of February, 30,000 transactions failed and customers are the ones suffering,” the source said.
Data from NIBSS found that volume of PoS transactions in the first two months of 2019 have outpaced that of 2018 and 2017, an indication that more people are preferring to carry out their day to day transactions using their cards.
The volume in January 2019 rose to 28,162 compared with 16,102 and 7,946 for the same in 2018 and 2017 respectively. Value for January 2019 stood at N222 billion compared with N152 billion and N91 billion for the same period in 2018 and 2017 respectively.
Another bank customer said that his POS transaction of February 14 was reversed on March 13 while some customers forfeited their money because they did not have the time to go to bank and complain.
Olukoya Oluwaseun also tweeted that he was debited the sum of N5,000 after a failed PoS transaction “two weeks ago” and is yet to receive the sum back from his bank.
“I carried out a PoS transaction on February 25, I was debited N4,250 but the transaction was declined,” Love Afinni tweeted from his handle @loveafinni, “I issued a compliant at the branch in Ijebu Ode on March 25, I was assured of a manual reversal within 8 days. I have been following up but I am yet to receive a reversal.”
BALA AUGIE
