Nigerians hope of completing their financial transactions through their banks was dashed on Thursday as NIBSS the country’s biggest inter-bank payment system experiences downtime.
In a short statement seen via various bank applications the payment system stated that the downtime is due to an emergency maintenance happening on its platform.
“Please be informed that NIBSS Instant Payment is currently conducting an emergency system maintenance that may cause a delay in transfers to or from your account. The maintenance is expected to be completed shortly.” the statement reads.
Reacting to the development, business owner and X user, Charles-Davies Omiete said, “NIBSS is down, how can the enabler of the most popular payment system in a country be down for over an hour? Businesses are losing money by the second. The banks should be discussing a more dependable inter-bank transfer system ASAP.”
Wondering how parents whose children are in need of urgent medical care cope, X user and pediatrician, Doutuche asked, “NIBSS is down again. How will parents that want to pay admission fees for their babies to be put in incubators cope?”
“NIBSS shouldn’t have downtimes for a long time. Something as critical as that for payments should be top priority, knowing how its downtimes impact businesses and our economy in general.” Another X user, Victor Ikeji said.
“NIBSS is down!! In this country everything is out to frustrate your life. Imagine not being able to pay for goods and services because you can’t make a transfer!” Ben (@_info2019) lamented.
“If Grid is not down, NIBSS will be down, if it’s not NIBSS, it’s another problem, no wonder people don’t live long here anymore.” Timi (@Timio2) tweeted.