Many Nigerians have raised concern over the newly implemented cost of using the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) for banking services.
Many users of USSD services on Friday received notice to pay N6.98 for each transaction.
“Welcome to USSD Banking,” one notice said. “Please note, a N6.98 network charge will be applied to your account for banking services on this channel,” the notice reads.
The new USSD charge had been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in March 2021.
In a joint statement issued by CBN and NCC in March, it was announced that customers would be charged N6.98 flat fee per transaction.
“Effective March 16, 2021, USSD services for financial transactions conducted at DMBs (Deposit Money Banks) and all CBN-licensed institutions will be charged at a flat fee of N6.98 per transaction,” the joint statement partly read.
The agreement was reached following the disagreement between banks and telecom firms over USSD and other text message transaction requests.
The New Diplomat had reported that the telecoms and banks had dispute over who should pay for the cost of running the USSD service sessions.
Meanwhile, many Nigerians have taken to their respective Twitter accounts to express outrage over the implementation of the new USSD charge.
Here are some of the reactions harvested from Twitter;
“You advised us to do a cashless policy. No you want to bill us for going cashless. Who even started this Ussd policy? SMS charge, Credit charge, Debit charge, Atm charge, USSd charge. Maybe time for traditional banking is coming to an end. Hello Kuda & VFD,” (@heynighty)
“The new USSD charges are a new way of defrauding us in this country. Who cursed us in this country 😭”.(@obikoyaemmanuel1)
“My country people, see mtn this early morning. I did ussd transfers yesterday, no network charges. This country is doing the most to frustrate me.”(@kristayomy)
“Do they realize that people who mostly use #USSD can’t afford internet enabled devices talk more of data. Now you’re charging 7 Naira,” (@JimolWest)
“I use my ussd code more than 3 times a day 😭😭😭. That’s 18 Naira. 18×7 ie in a week = 126 Naira. I.E 504 Naira in a month. 6,048 Naira in a year. Multiply this by other 10k people who use Usd code ahhhhhhhh. Nigeria is after our Life😩😩😩😩😩.”(@Lisambarga)
