Millions of Nigerian bank customers are grappling with frustration and uncertainty following widespread disruptions to Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) banking transactions, with many unable to complete transfers despite having sufficient funds in their accounts.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the disruptions, which have persisted in recent days across several commercial banks, have triggered complaints from retail banking customers, traders and Point of Sale operators who rely heavily on USSD platforms for daily financial transactions.
Findings by our correspondent revealed that the failures are linked to a major restructuring of the USSD payment ecosystem and the implementation of stricter anti-fraud measures by financial and telecommunications regulators.
The development has exposed a critical gap in public awareness, as many customers are unaware that successful USSD transactions now depend not only on the availability of funds in their bank accounts but also on the presence of airtime on their mobile lines.
Across Lagos, bank customers who visited branches of commercial banks expressed confusion over repeated transaction failures.
