September 2022
The Nigerian Banking sector was in good shape, you could walk into any ATM and withdraw cash; banking apps worked with standard reliability; and there was no panic regarding the "validity" of the Naira in your pocket. The system was liquid, and banks were processing transactions with ease, what we can call peak performance. good times, right?
Fast forward to 2023.
February 1 – February 20th, 2023. The period I call “peak failure period” in the Nigerian Banking sector.
Mobile apps for major banks were consistently "down" or timed out.Nigerians would spend hours in bank halls only to be told the "network is fluctuating."
Millions of transactions were "declined but debited." This meant money left the sender's account but never reached the merchant, and because the banks' customer service lines were overwhelmed, these "trapped" funds took weeks or even months to be reversed.
On February 15, 2023, protests broke out in cities like Ibadan and Benin because ATMs were empty and banking apps were completely non-functional, leaving people with no way to access their own money.
Panic everywhere. Unsuccessful transactions. Massive Friction
That gap “Infrastructure vs Interface”
Is exactly what @usexara_ai was built top bridge.
Walk with me 🧵