Many bank customers have called on financial institutions to compensate them for their losses due to unstable online networks.

The customers in Abuja said they lost millions of naira due to their inability to perform online business transactions on Wednesday promptly.

Gbenga Akintoye, a GTB customer, said the bank’s poor online services even after their upgrade, caused his family to be disgraced and humiliated.

He said, “My wife and children went to Silverbird Galleria in Abuja to buy some things and have fun. I told my wife that I would transfer some money to her account before they got to the place.

”On getting to Silverbird, she called me and I told her I was trying to make the transfer. The frustrating and embarrassing thing is that the transfer did not go through that day.”

Mr Akintoye added, “Do you believe my wife and children kept going round the place without buying or having any fun? My wife and children were humiliated and frustrated; who pays for that.”

Another customer, Happiness Itua, a customer of GTB, said the bank’s poor network made her incur a N5,000 fine for delaying the payment of one of her contributions.

As the fault was theirs, Ms Itua called on the bank to pay her the equivalent fine as compensation.

”I usually pay for my contribution as soon as I receive my salary, but this time around, I was not able to pay early because of GT bank issues. 

“Due to the fact that so many people default on payment, a rule was made that after one week of salary payment, a person who has yet to pay will pay a fine.

”I became a victim of the fine because my bank app was not working. GTB should pay me my money,” Ms Itua said.

Amina Babangida, a customer of Zenith Bank and frozen foods trader, said the bank’s poor network during its upgrade had not been stable and had made it difficult for her to pay her utility bill.

Ms Babangida said the development affected her business as some frozen foods were spoilt and wasted.

Ms Nkechi Udeke, another customer of Sterling Bank said the bank’s network had been fluctuating since September.

”Since the beginning of September, the bank has been having network issues. You don’t receive credit or debit alerts. During this period, I lost a lot of money in my business because a customer would pay for items online and send his debit alert to you.

”Believing that the transaction is successful, you let him or her go with the goods, but in the end,  you will not receive the money, or it will not reflect in your account balance,” she said.

Uche Uwaleke, the former chairman of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, FCT chapter, said the customers who incurred losses deserved to be compensated.

Mr Uwaleke, a financial expert, said, ”I think they deserve to be compensated as long as it can be established that losses suffered are financial.

”Also, that the losses were as a result of failure of transactions during any period exceeding the initial period communicated in advance by the bank to its customers.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria had advised customers to lay their complaints to the deposit money banks and give them at least two weeks to resolve the issues, failure of which it would intervene.

“If after lodging your complaint, your bank still fails to engage you and resolve the complaint within two weeks, you have the right to escalate your complaint to the CBN’s Consumer Protection Department.

“Customers can contact the CPD by sending an email to cpd@cbn.gov.ng, contactcbn@cbn.gov.ng or call +234 7002255226.

”Customers can lodge a complaint directly on the CBN website,” it said.

(NAN)