Nigerians Groan: Reps Decry Rising Bank service charges
Nigerian House Representatives
The Nigerian House of Representatives has raised concerns over the growing deductions from customers’ bank accounts, warning that these charges are discouraging savings and eroding public trust in the banking sector.
According to the lawmakers, the trend threatens to reverse years of progress toward expanding financial access across the country.
The House, responding to mounting public outrage over escalating bank charges, warned that excessive and opaque fees could undermine Nigeria’s financial inclusion agenda.
They noted that such practices risk discouraging participation in the formal banking system, especially among low-income earners.
In response, the House directed its Committee on Banking Regulations to summon top officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and major commercial banks to explain the persistent increase in service charges. This move follows a surge in public complaints over what many Nigerians describe as “incessant and unjustified deductions.”
Lawmakers expressed deep concern that excessive and non-transparent charges are steadily depleting customers’ deposits, and could derail the CBN’s goal of bringing 95 percent of Nigerian adults into the formal financial system by 2025.
Figures from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) highlight the scale of the issue: while over 60 million Nigerians currently hold active bank accounts, approximately 38 percent of adults remain financially excluded.
Analysts have partly attributed this exclusion to multiple and hidden bank charges, which make traditional banking services unattractive to a significant portion of the population.
The CBN’s 2024 Annual Economic Report reveals that banks earned approximately ₦520 billion from service charges including fees on transfers, card maintenance, and SMS alerts — marking an 18 percent increase from ₦440 billion in 2023. Transaction-related fees alone rose by 22 percent, driven by increased digital adoption and tariff adjustments.
