The question then is who will fight for the customers should the matter further degenerate?
As for the NCC, FMOCDE, and the CBN, they need to call the banks to order, while also ensuring that a feasible solution is quickly worked out to avert further crises… It is unfair that we have to pay twice for using a service that originally should encourage financial inclusion for all.
If anyone ever thought that Nigerian banks care about their customers, the event of Friday, April 2 clearly exposed their selfishness and indifference towards what matters to their customers. How do you explain that a service as important as the USSD was disabled for millions of subscribers by these banks over a disagreed fee with MTN on charges for the service, without formally notifying customers, and leaving them confused and stranded?
It is well known that USSD serves as a critical channel for delivering financial services, particularly for the underserved and/or financially excluded, which was why it was highly upsetting that the banks could go on with their callous act without a care about how their actions would affect customers, all in the bid to protect their supposedly threatened profit.
Ironically, these same banks are indebted to the telecommunication companies to the tune of N42 billion for the same USSD services provided to them, for which they bill their customers. Where did the monies deducted go to? Why were they not remitted to the telcos accordingly, after taking these from customers’ accounts?
According to the telcos, since the USSD pricing determination by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), banks haven’t paid them the accumulated costs of USSD transactions.
It was to this end that the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) threatened to disconnect the banks from providing payment services on the platforms of telcos until they paid the N42 billion debt.
It took the intervention of the NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to call off the threat by the telcos to disable the USSD services allowed banks, after which agreements to charge a fixed amount and also settle all indebtedness for past services were reached. Clearly the new arrangement, which will see customers part with N6.98k each time they use the USSD for banking transactions goes against the purpose for introducing the USSD as a way of financial inclusion, especially for the underserved, as Nigerians now have to pay the additional fees to their respective telecom providers in addition to the service fee deducted for access to bank services through the USSD channel.
… one wonders why the NCC, the Minister of Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMOCDE), Mallam Isa Ali Pantami and the CBN could facilitate such an arrangement that further impoverishes customers, just to let the banks off the hook, while they make money off their customers.
That said, one wonders why the NCC, the Minister of Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMOCDE), Mallam Isa Ali Pantami and the CBN could facilitate such an arrangement that further impoverishes customers, just to let the banks off the hook, while they make money off their customers. Why make customers the sacrificial lamb in settling the dispute between both parties? Haven’t we suffered enough unfairness from the plethora of financial obligations to the system?
And if my instinct serves me right, knowing how these banks operate, I wouldn’t be surprised that somehow they would find ways of passing on their accummulated debt to customers through hidden charges.
Already, these banks are beginning to deny their indebtedness to the telcos, after failing to resolve their difference over pricing of the USSD short code service.
One of the banks heads was quoted a few days ago as saying that there was no such thing as an obligation due from banks to telcos. According to him, the banks chose not to make a public statement of it because it is not appropriate for them to be found fighting with telcos in public.
“It is true that they continue to provide this service but this service has nothing to do with the banks,” he said.
His submission goes contrary to the joint statement put together by the NCC and CBN on “Pricing of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)” in which it was disclosed before all stakeholders, including the banks, that there was an accumulation of outstanding fees for USSD services rendered by the telcos to the banks.
The question then is who will fight for the customers should the matter further degenerate? Are we always going to be at the receiving end? Why do we as customers have to bear the cost for these banks, even when they have continued to rip us off our hard earned money?
It is baffling that this bank head would make such a statement after all this while, perhaps as a result of the continued dispute between the banks and telcos over fees chargeable on services carried out on each other’s platform. It is even more distasteful that the regulators are silent over his statement, thereby ridiculing the entire mediation efforts.
But what I find quite instructive is that, amidst the mounting debt owed them, the telecom providers at no point discontinued their services to the banks; however, the banks were quick to shut out MTN over a little disagreement on reduction of commission on the service charges without any consideration. Their actions say a lot. No one can question their excesses.
Unfortunately, too, the silence from the regulators over this tyrannical act does not help matters either. It is as if everyone is afraid of the banks, more like they are the government’s “sacred cash cow” that are immune to scrutiny and criticism. If there is one thing that is certain, it is that the customers will continue to suffer for trusting the banks with their money if this issue is not resolved once and for all.
The question then is who will fight for the customers should the matter further degenerate? Are we always going to be at the receiving end? Why do we as customers have to bear the cost for these banks, even when they have continued to rip us off our hard earned money?
Where is the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in all of this? Isn’t it their function to secure the protection of rights for all consumers in Nigeria? What has been done so far on their part to ensure fair, transparent and equitable billing charges for bank customers using the USSD?
As for the NCC, FMOCDE, and the CBN, they need to call the banks to order, while also ensuring that a feasible solution is quickly worked out to avert further crises, and while at that, they would need to revisit the new payment structure that pegs the charges on USSD on customers. It is unfair that we have to pay twice for using a service that originally should encourage financial inclusion for all.
Ibukun Awopetu, a freelance journalist, writes from Lagos.
