General News
What went Wrong with Stanbic IBTC Esusu Services?
On April 22, it was reported by one of Nigerian dailies, The Punch newspaper that some customers of STANBIC IBTC were allegedly defrauded as active customers of the Bank enrolled for the esusu service which entails savings contributions through roaming agents that are acting on the behalf of the Bank.
The product esusu enables any low income person, traders and others like students to save money and enjoy basic financial services which with the use of a Bank card and a point of sale terminal provided by the Banking agents.
Banking through agents using same channel had recorded significant successes in other climes like Brazil and even some African nations till date.
Stanbic IBTC’s esusu is quite useful in a nation like Nigeria where millions of adult in urban and rural areas do not have access to basic financial services due to challenges of Bank Branch spread, lack of standard Know-Your-customer documentations and many others challenges that low income segments population are faced with when attempting to access basic financial services.
The esusu service was an innovative conception that was quite popular in some parts of Lagos when I conducted an independent assessment of the service to enable me learn more about how mobile financial services agency network can operate in same like manner in Nigeria.
Overall outcomes of the assessment proved beyond reasonable doubt that the Bank’s Brand and trust in the Bank played a key role in convincing the customers to sign up with the roaming agents and use the services with average customer using the services more than twice weekly in the minimum.
In essence, the Bank transferred the trust to the agents and the users trusted the agents as a representative of the Bank.
It could have been difficult for a non bank provider to achieve what was achieved with the esusu product.
The complaints reported by the customers as reported by Punch Newspaper ranged from interest not earned on the savings as promised by the agents and saved balances shortages.
What could have gone wrong with such novel concept that promises to bring financial access to the door steps of millions of Nigerians? An innovation that I secretly understudied and always refer to as ground breaking in Nigeria?
From my experiences of how Banking agency operates for mobile financial services , which is significantly different from what the Bank is offering is the use of roaming agents rather than fixed locations agents.
Roaming agents are more effective in signing users and building trusts in the early days of deployment.
However, providers should endeavor to transit roaming agents to fixed locations in those communities once they had achieved the mandate of signing up minimum users per community and had gained trust of users.
The advantage of fixed location agents is that tariff / service pricing can be placed on a wall in the booth, store or agent locations for customers to verify how much they are expected to pay for the services.
My assumption in the situation above was that the agents were eager to sign up customers and did not clearly educate customers on chargers for the services or interest payable on the savings.
The terms and condition of use of services might had been wrongly communicated or not at all by the roaming agents.
Terms and conditions of services is important to build confidence and manage expectations of the users.
However, most organization get it wrong when they make such prints almost unreadable by using the smallest printable character, not translating such for the benefit of the customer when He / She is not literate to read the print version.
Agents are also not able to educate the customers adequately before they commit to signing up for the service.
Banking services is strongly evidenced based service and it is rather awkward for customers to wait till the following day to get receipt for deposit made a day earlier with the agent as reported by one of the aggrieved customers.
If the service is designed that way, that is entirely wrong.
Depositors should be able to have instant fulfillment upon committing the transaction with agent and a paper based receipted issued in writing or printed out to keep as evidence or for future reconciliation purposes.
It could also be an ingenious method for the agents to short change the depositor by way of manipulating the receipt, given the time lag of 24hours for the receipting.
I know as a matter of fact that the Bank is stable and will be able to meet the demands of the savers on demand and the police was also reported by the Punch newspaper to have stepped into the issue and resolve some by arresting the guarantors of the agents.
However, it is a reputational issue for the Bank and may portend systemic risk for the entire industry that is actively developing agency Banking through the use of agents via recently licensed mobile money providers in Nigeria.
Getting the agents is only the baking of the cake, monitoring the agents is the icing on the cake and that is where most providers will drop the ball.
The lessons to be learnt is that providers should not transfer their trust to agents where control is lax and the only compensatory control over agents is the guarantor whom may not fully understand what they are guaranteeing or compensate the provider adequately when things wrong.
Emmanuel Okoegwale
Principal Associate, MobileMoneyAfrica
[email protected]
Chinonso Akujobi, former staff of Access Bank in Lagos, has been remanded in Ikoyi prison after she was arraigned on a five-count charge bordering on stealing to the tune of N294.5m.
Akujobi who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was arraigned before Justice I.O. Ijelu of the State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
EFCC alleged that Akujobi stole the money between January and December 2025 while under the employment of Access Bank Plc.
As stated in one the charges, the defendant stole the money through unauthorized payments from the general ledger of Access Bank to her account number 0036668871 with the name Chinonso A., Uchechi A. and Florence A., thereby committing an offence of stealing, contrary to Section 280 and punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The defendant pleaded “not guilty“ to the charges when they were read to her.
In view of this, S.M.Yabo, prosecution counsel, asked the court for a trial date and also prayed for the remand of the defendant in a Correctional centre.
Justice Ijelu, thereafter, adjourned the case till October 8, 2026, for the hearing of the bail application and the commencement of trial.
The Judge also ordered that the defendant be remanded in the Ikoyi correctional Centre.
The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) says the flight captain of the VMO Aero aircraft that landed on a roadway near Asaba Airport in Delta State told investigators that the observer pilot mistakenly identified the paved road as the runway before touchdown.
The bureau disclosed this in a preliminary report released on Thursday on the June 10 incident, which prompted the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ground the private jet.
The aircraft had seven people on board, including the pilot-in-command (PIC), second-in-command (SIC), an observer pilot, a cabin crew member and three passengers.
According to the report, the aircraft was cleared by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to approach Runway 11 at Asaba Airport after the crew requested a right orbit.
The crew initially discontinued the approach, executed a missed approach and repositioned for a second landing attempt.
NSIB said the crew reported that the aircraft’s navigation systems indicated it was correctly established on the published RNAV Runway 11 approach.
“The PIC and SIC reported that the observer pilot identified the paved surface ahead as the runway,” the report stated.
However, the observer pilot gave investigators a different version of events.
According to NSIB, he said the aircraft remained inside cloud until late in the approach and that the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) repeatedly issued “TERRAIN, TERRAIN, PULL UP” alerts.
He also said he observed a telecommunications mast directly ahead and instructed the flight captain to abandon the approach and climb immediately.
The bureau further disclosed that a cabin crew member reported that one of the passengers became concerned after overhearing discussions among the pilots and asked whether one of them was undergoing training. The passenger was reportedly reassured that all three pilots on board were experienced captains.
NSIB said no abnormal events were reported in the cabin before touchdown.
The aircraft eventually landed at about 8:57 a.m. on an under-construction paved roadway near Asaba Airport instead of the designated runway.
The bureau said its investigation into the incident is ongoing, while the preliminary report highlights conflicting accounts among the cockpit crew over the circumstances that led to the erroneous landing.
European Union has warned Meta Platforms Inc. that it could face a significant financial penalty unless it changes what regulators describe as the “addictive design” features of Facebook and Instagram.
The European Commission issued the warning in preliminary findings released on Friday, saying Meta had failed to sufficiently address risks posed by its platforms, particularly to children and vulnerable users.
The Commission said features such as infinite scrolling, personalised content recommendations and automatic video playback were designed in ways that encouraged excessive engagement with the platforms.
EU Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, said protecting the physical and mental well-being of European citizens should be a priority for social media companies.
The Commission said Meta should consider introducing design changes, including disabling autoplay and infinite scrolling by default, providing effective screen-time reminders and adjusting recommendation systems to reduce the focus on maximising user engagement.
The findings were issued under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which sets obligations for major online platforms to address risks associated with their services.
Meta, however, rejected the Commission’s conclusions, saying it disagreed with the findings but would continue engaging with European regulators.
The company said it had already implemented measures aimed at protecting younger users, including Teen Accounts that allow parents to manage screen time limits and restrict access during night hours.
The EU said its investigation, which began in 2024, found that existing time-management tools on Facebook and Instagram could easily be bypassed, while parental controls required technical knowledge that limited their effectiveness.
Regulators also expressed concerns over children’s nighttime use of the platforms and the possibility that features such as Reels and Stories could encourage compulsive behaviour.
If the Commission’s preliminary findings are confirmed, Meta could face a fine of up to six per cent of its annual global revenue under the DSA.
The warning comes as the EU steps up efforts to strengthen online safety measures for children, with an expert panel established by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expected to present recommendations on protecting minors online.
Several EU member states, including France, have also supported discussions on restricting social media access for children, following Australia’s decision to ban users under 16 from accessing social media platforms.
Meanwhile, the Commission is continuing a separate investigation into whether Meta’s recommendation algorithms create “rabbit hole” effects by directing users towards increasingly extreme content.
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