Divide the national moimoi
Your bank charges may soon be reduced significantly
Good morning, Big Brains. It’s officially Moonshot Day, and my legs are going to need your prayers. But if I find the person who’s willing to invest in my life, it would be worth it.
- Margaret
Word count: ~ 1,000
Reading time ~ 5 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
Your bank charges may soon be reduced significantly
Another governor has ditched PDP for APC
The Big Deal
Your bank charges may soon be reduced significantly
Some thieves wear masks and some wear suits and ties, but a thief is still a thief at the end of the day.
On Tuesday, October 14, lawmakers finally decided to come for the banks running broad daylight theft in your bank accounts through excessive charges. As part of a House of Representatives order, an investigation will be launched into the growing complaints about excessive deductions by commercial banks across the country.
The lawmaker you want to thank is Tolani Shagaya (APC, Kwara), who drew attention to what he described as a “rising wave of exploitative deductions” that has left many Nigerians at a loss. According to him, customers have had enough of unexplained debits, duplicated charges, and mysterious “service fees” that no one ever agreed to.
Shagaya reminded the House that while the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has tariff guidelines to keep these charges in check, many financial institutions have decided that rules are meant to be broken.
After Shagaya’s motion, the other lawmakers asked the CBN to publish a clear, simplified list of all approved bank charges so Nigerians can finally understand what they’re paying for. They also asked the apex bank to start punishing the banks responsible for these charges.
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and other agencies will also be launching a nationwide awareness campaign, teaching Nigerians how to recognise and report exploitative charges.
Why is this a big deal?
There are a million and one charges that get deducted from your account every time you make a transaction, but we’ll run you through just a few of them. A ₦10,000 transfer attracts a cybersecurity levy of ₦0.50, while transactions exceeding ₦1 million will attract a ₦50 fee.
It also costs more money to simply send money. Every transfer below ₦5,000 attracts a ₦10 charge, while transactions below ₦50,000 cost ₦25.
Then there’s the infamous account maintenance charge, which some banks completely abuse. Some banks take ₦1 for every ₦1000 that goes out of your account. Others quietly gather it all and debit you at the end of the month.
A ₦500,000 transfer, in that case, can cost as high as ₦500. And while savings accounts get a pass from this particular charge, they still get charged for card maintenance, electronic transfer fees, and SMS alerts that make no sense.
The list can go on and on and on, but we’ll give honourable mentions to the 7.5% VAT charge, a ₦ 6.98 USSD charge, and ₦50 stamp duty for any transaction over ₦10,000.
Our lawmakers should have shut this corporate robbery operation down a long time ago, but whenever you wake up is your morning. We’re not sure how soon all these will be happening, but the House has already asked its Committee on Banking Regulations to pull CBN and other banks for a public hearing within four weeks, so keep your fingers crossed.
Another governor has ditched PDP for APC
The national moi moi seems to be reserved for only a particular group of lucky people these days, and everybody wants a share of it. The newest sitting governor to jump on the All Progressives Congress (APC) power-grabbing train is Peter Mbah of Enugu.
During a state-wide broadcast, Mbah officially dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and declared his newly discovered love for the APC.
According to him, it wasn’t betrayal; it was “strategy.” Mbah thanked the PDP for years of support, but said it was time to make “bold decisions in service of higher goals.”
He also used the opportunity to praise President Bola Tinubu’s policies, claiming Enugu has enjoyed massive support under him.
The “massive support” must have also impressed his House of Assembly members, councillors, chairmen of council and several other politicians in his state because they all moved to PDP too.
Reports suggest Mbah won’t be the last to switch. Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri, is reportedly packing his bags next, following in the footsteps of Delta’s Sheriff Oborevwori and Akwa Ibom’s Umo Eno, who already crossed to the ruling party earlier this year.
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This Week’s Big Question
“Do you think the Tinubu administration should amp up taxes or slow it down?”
Essien’s response - “We’ve already lost the plot, so he might as well keep the taxes coming.”
You can also share your response here, and if it’s as interesting as Essien’s, we’ll feature it in the next edition.
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Play catch up
Is it for Garri? Is it for Eba?
The Great Lock-in (or whatever the cool kids are calling it these days) has kicked off, and the Tinubu-led administration is hopping on that self-development train too. The administration has repented from solving every problem with bags of rice and is now moving on to “bigger” things. Specifically, interest-free loans for flood victims.