Business
Brain drain hits Nigerian banks as tech experts, others resign in droves
Funds transfer between bank customers, in some cases now take an upward of two weeks to either drop in the receiver’s account or reversed to the sender.
Besides this obvious development, information is rife that most of the banks are working round the clock to manage internal tech problems that have suddenly hit them due to mass resignation of tech experts, who are travelling out of the country for greener pastures.
Besides the current wave of managing the crisis, the fear of succession has also gripped some of the establishments as the old hands are likely to end up not having anyone to take over from them. Fears that the quality of service provided by the banks in the country might even worsen in the coming months are growing.
Indeed, industry sources believe that banks are set to be hit by a great wave of resignations in September as a lot of their employees are booked to obtain their visas by the end of this month. At the post-Bankers’ Committee meeting press briefing held in April, the Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank Plc, Abubakar Suleiman, told reporters that the industry had been hit by an exodus of tech talents.
“So many of our very experienced talents, especially in the area of software engineering, are either leaving the industry or leaving the country,” a development he referred to as a “great resignation,” he said.
Suleiman stated that the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), the umbrella professional body for lenders in the country, would “drive the process of training more skills in the area where we see deficits,” adding that the bank CEOs at the meeting discussed plans to fund training for new tech-focused staffers to replace those who have left.
There have been reports on social media in recent times that Nigerian banks are facing frequent system breakdown and other IT related challenges as most of their tech engineers have resigned to join digital firms in the country’s booming fintech sector, especially the global conglomerate, Amazon, which began operations in Nigeria’s e-commerce space a few months ago.
It was however gathered that it was not only tech focused staff of the banks who are quitting in order to take up juicy appointments both within and outside the country.
An Assistant Head of Operations at the branch of a Tier 1 bank, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told New Telegraph’s correspondent that he recently obtained his visa to pursue a Masters Degree programme in the United Kingdom and would be leaving the country with his family next month.
According to him, he decided to apply for the visa, following encouragement from several former colleagues who resigned in the last few months and have secured jobs or admissions for post graduate programmes either in Europe or Canada.
The bank official said: “Despite the fact that the tough economy in Nigeria has been leading many bank staff in the last seven years to resign to seek better opportunities outside the country, I was not too keen on making that move.
“However, as economic conditions and insecurity have worsened since early this year, my wife and I decided that I should try my luck and apply for a UK visa. I was pleasantly surprised to be informed that my application was successful,” he said.
He disclosed that his immediate superior, the Head of Operations at the branch, had also obtained a UK visa and would be submitting his resignation letter in the coming days.
“The situation (wave of resignations in the industry) is really very serious and I’m wondering how banks are going to cope in terms of service delivery, if it continues. I can tell you that out of every 10 bank employees that you speak with today, at least four will tell you that they are making serious plans to “japa” (local parlance for leaving the country for greener pastures abroad).
“A lot of my colleagues are already complaining of being overworked because staff who resigned months ago are yet to be replaced,” he said.
Downturn in economy Another middle level bank staff at a Tier I bank branch in Lagos, who echoed similar views, predicted that the wave of resignations would increase in the coming months as economic conditions and governance issues in the country continue to deteriorate ahead of the general election next year.
“A lot of people are trying to ‘japa’ due to the situation in the country. The naira is heading towards N1, 000 per dollar; the prices of goods and services (inflation) are accelerating at an alarming rate; students of government-owned higher institutions have been at home for over six months now because of the strike embarked upon by their teachers and the rising wave of killings and kidnapping cases across the nation, are making many people to believe that with the election next year drawing near, governance will completely collapse. Thus, the only option left for any serious person is to travel abroad.”
The bank official revealed that in a bid to tackle the crisis, the financial institution she works for had reduced the minimum academic qualification required for people applying for permanent staff positions to Second Class Lower (2/2) University Degree from Second Class Upper (2/1).
She, however, said that the lowering of the academic qualification did not appear to be stemming the wave of resignations as many of the young permanent staff employed by the bank in recent times has quit after only two years to accept better offers outside the industry.
“Most of the young people that are even lucky to be employed as permanent staff by banks are not even interested in spending more than three or four years in the industry. After about two years, you will hear that they have either migrated to Canada or are doing remote work,” she said.
The bank official debunked the view that increasing automation would mitigate the impact of the resignations on the quality of service provided by the banks. She argued that while most bank operations are automated, there are still services that require the human element, pointing out that a lot of bank customers in the country prefer to visit bank branches to resolve issues that could have been addressed from the comfort of their homes.
Commenting on the wave of resignations and its likely impact on the industry, the President of the Bank Customers Association of Nigeria (BCAN), Dr Uju Ogubunka, told New Telegraph that “the impact is already being felt. Many experienced and skilled bankers are already resigning for greener pastures abroad. It is a reality.”
According to him, the resignations will adversely impact the industry as “service quality will go down and people will complain and all that.”
Ogubunka, who noted that the wave of resignations was not peculiar to the banking industry, said that he knew a lot of people in other sectors of the economy who are also planning to quit their jobs to look for better employment offers outside the country. He attributed the development to the tough economy, pointing out that it was in the nature of human beings to emigrate in search of a better life.
“That is why we are asking that it is very important that all the focus should be on improving the Nigerian economy,” he stated.
On his part, the CEO of BIC Consulting Services, Dr Boniface Chizea, said that he could not predict to what level the great resignation will get to before it would start to impact the banks negatively. He noted that while automation is helping the banks to cope with the resignation of key staff, the industry would be concerned if the number of exiting staff continues to head north.
Chizea said: “There are countries out there, like Canada, that have labour shortage. So, people will want to move to such places to search for work. That is why we must tackle our economic problems.
What is causing the high inflation; the depreciation of the naira?” Blessing in disguise Last week, in his address at the pre-media briefing for the CIBN’s 15th Annual Banking and Finance Conference (ABFC), scheduled for September 13 – 14, Suleiman, who is the Chairman of the Consultative Committee of the conference, announced that an ongoing research finding on, “Analysis of Human Capital Attrition in a Global Context: A Case Study of the Financial Services Industry,” would be shared for information of stakeholders and value addition to the 15th ABFC.
Responding to a question on what measures the banking industry is taking to address the great resignation, he said: “With reference to the Chinese word for crisis, which also means opportunity, our attitude is that Nigeria is not lacking in healthy, young people, who are willing and are able to work. Therefore, if we see ourselves losing talent, the best response is to actually focus on converting those young people as replacement for those who are leaving.”
He further disclosed that “the industry, as a collective, is putting together a plan that will enable us support individuals who are looking to acquire skills in the area of technology and all other fields where we have skills shortage. The thinking is that actually, we can turn the crisis into an opportunity.” (New Telegraph)
• We’ve 150 days PMS stock
• We used Indigenous technical know-how to build this refinery, he reveals
The Vice-President, Dangote Refinery Limited, Mr. Devakumar Edwin has classified the refinery as strategic national asset for the country.
Mr. Edwin who made the statement during a tour of the oil facility located at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, by editors of several media organizations across Nigeria, added that it has a strategic reserve of 150 days Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) stock.
He noted that aside being the second largest employer of labour in Nigeria after the government, the company has created indigenous petroleum engineers, contributes immensely to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and gradually transforming Nigeria into the leading global player in the oil services sector.
He explained that with the innovative ideas of Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, who does not believe that “anything is impossible,” they have created not just the largest refinery in the country, but a key player in the production of fertilizer across the world.
Edwin said: “We have here at the Refinery, 150 days national stock of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). In case of diesel (AGO), we have more than 150 days stock, for Aviation fuel, we have much more. So what we have in this facility is a strategic national reserve.
“Before we set up this largest single train, the global petroleum refinery has 430,000 barrels per day in the Middle East. But, what we set up here is 50% larger than the hitherto largest refinery.
“In fact, the biggest thing we are more proud of is that a Nigerian company built it. If you go all across the world, to US, to Europe, to Asia, their refineries were built by Shell or Chevron or Exxon Mobil or Total, Bechtel from US, Siphon from Italy, Technip from France, JGC from Japan, Chiyoda, these six companies are the ones who have practically built all the refineries in the world.
“But when it came to our company, we went and talked to the three of them, they all said, okay, you are talking about 650,000 barrels. The capital cost will be roughly $30,000 a barrel, which means 30,000 into 650,000 is about 19 and a half billion dollars.
“So it’s 20 billion dollar investment. You will need to pay us 15% fees, which is $3 billion. And so my President said, no, let’s go and build it ourselves. We told him, you see companies like ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, Chevron they have never tried it. And you want us to do this? It’s almost impossible.
“Then he said, Edwin, have you forgotten? You know he has a plaque on his table which says ‘nothing is impossible’. Have you forgotten what I keep on my table? So he said, nothing is impossible. Let’s just go and do it.
“And that is how we built this refinery. Dangote Projects limited built this refinery. Nigerians can be proud of that.
“A Nigerian company attempted and built the world’s largest single train refinery. And now we can see the value addition which is creating in.
“The Dangote Refinery has become a game changer for Nigeria and its economy. The refinery has helpped stabilized the nation’s economy.
“You can see we are exporting our jet fuel primarily to Europe. Our gasoline has gone to us, our diesel is going to Europe. So it’s not only consistent supply of fuel but also high quality fuel.
“And then if you see the prices of fuel last year after the subsidy was removed, it was going up, stabilized at a level.
“You can go and check at what price it was selling and at what price it is selling today. I have been in Nigeria for 34 years. I have not seen even the price of stationary paper or a pure water coming down.
“And we have seen for the first-time fuel prices coming down. So we have not added value only in terms of quality and consistency of supply, but in terms of pricing.
“And, you can see the global impact of the price of the refinery. You can see how the currency values have been stable or sometimes even becoming stronger because instead of importing huge quantities of finished petroleum products, now you are having locally available products and we are also exporting products. So, we are also generating foreign, foreign exchange. So there is a net benefit to the country.
“This is a huge forex outflow. Now there is inflow and also outflow is reduced. In fact, if we continue to go in this direction strongly, the currency will even continue to become better. So, the refinery has been able to contribute in a large way”.
Aside being in oil and gas, the factory also has constructed a huge 300 million metric tonnes per annum Urea (fertilizer) plant and is currently developing additional 600 million metric tonnes plant beside the existing plant envisaging that nobody will feed feed Nigeria in due course in spite of population growth.
“What this means,” he said, “is that more Nigerians can go into commercial farming with available fertilizer at affordable price.
Equally speaking while taking the editors round the project site l, Engr. Osunsakin Adelani, a pioneer engineer at the plant, said the current gantry at Dangote Refinery can load 707 trucks of PMS within an hour.
“We have global best laboratories where everything we do here, at every stage of the production, are first tested for quality control before the completion of production. And we have the capacity to monitor every single live feed from every point in the refinery”.
He also said that the refinery is standing on 75 per cent swamp.l, of which 65 million cubic meters of sand was pumped from the Atlantic Ocean to reclaim the land to natural settlement.
“We did surveys which made us drive 250,000 pauch and colon of 62 meters, importing crude oil from Nigeria, US, Angola, and other countries that have the type of crude we require,’ and these is because, Nigeria is not producing enough crude to satisfy the refinery’s need.
To overcome the high cost of constructing the refinery from the so-called global best refinery construction engineering firms, “we set up a construction company to construct the roads here and to construct the refinery,” he added.
The naira extended its gains at the official market last week as it gained 0.72 per cent (or N10.5) to close at 1,455.17/$, the strongest it had been since December 2024, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria has revealed.
Analysts disclosed that the performance of the domestic currency was driven by robust foreign exchange inflows from portfolio investors and remittances.
At the parallel market, the naira strengthened 0.88 per cent to 1,475/$, also supported by improved liquidity.
The FX market had traded mixed through the week. It opened on a bearish note as early demand pressures caused by the exit of Foreign Portfolio Investors led to a dip. However, the market sentiments shifted midweek, buoyed by strong foreign inflows, particularly from FPIs sourcing naira to meet local fixed-income obligations.
AIICO Capital, in its outlook for the new week, said, “The naira is likely to remain stable in the near term, supported by improved US dollar supply and external reserves.”
Cowry Assets Management Limited, in a review of the FX market, said that it also noted that the local currency’s improvement was helped by better foreign exchange inflows, which reduced pressure on demand.
It maintained a positive outlook for the naira, saying, “We expect the naira to stay stable in the near term, supported by steady FX inflows and CBN interventions. However, rising import demand or weaker dollar inflows could slow further gains. Oil prices may remain under pressure due to higher supply, but any rebound in global demand could offer some support to Nigeria’s external earnings conditions, underpinning optimism for FX market stability; volatility in global oil markets may keep investor sentiment cautious.”
The external reserves also increased to $42.57bn, helped by higher inflows from oil sales, remittances, and portfolio investments. This steady rise in the external reserves gives the CBN more room to manage short-term pressures and supports expectations of naira stability in the near term.
In the past week, the naira got some cheery news that experts have said would further strengthen the liquidity in the market. The global index provider, FTSE Russell, in its September 2025 semi-annual country classification review for equities and fixed income, added Nigeria to the Watch List.
Explaining further, FTSE Russell said that the addition to the watchlist makes “possible reclassification from Unclassified to Frontier market status as the market meets the five FTSE Quality of Markets criteria required for attaining Frontier market status.”
Nigeria had been moved to the “Unclassified” category in September 2023 on the back of severe delays in foreign investors’ capital repatriation and FX transactions experienced by foreign investors as of that time.
However, recent policy reforms have improved FX liquidity, with market participants reporting no significant delays, prompting FTSE Russell’s decision. Now on the watchlist means Nigeria will be in a period of formal observation and engagement with market participants ahead of a potential upgrade in the next annual review cycle, expected in March 2026.
The analysts at Meristem Securities said, “This shift repositions Nigeria back on the investment radar for global funds that benchmark against the FTSE.
Frontier market index
Active funds will begin pre-positioning to capture the upside ahead of the formal re-entry, while passive funds will prepare for mandatory future allocations. This translates to potentially significant inflows of Foreign Portfolio Investment over the next year. In addition, this directly supports the Nigerian naira as anticipated capital inflows increase dollar supply, helping to sustain liquidity and stability in the FX market.
“In the short term, anticipation of fund flows is likely to fuel market optimism and price appreciation. However, long-term success depends on the Nigerian government’s commitment to sustaining a market-driven economy throughout this critical probationary period.” (PUNCH
Business
CBN sets new location rule for Opay, Moniepoint, PalmPay PoS Operators, mandates terminal tracking
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a sweeping directive that will shut down Point-of-Sale (PoS) devices used outside a merchant’s registered business address.
In a circular released on August 25, 2025, the apex bank ordered all licensed operators—including Moniepoint, OPay, PalmPay, and commercial banks—to geo-tag every PoS terminal in their network within 60 days.
This new policy means that the millions of PoS devices currently in circulation must now be registered with exact GPS coordinates indicating where each machine is being used.
CBN
According to the CBN, the measure is designed to curb fraud, prevent the use of cloned or “ghost” terminals, and make it easier to track transactions in real time.
The regulator further explained that all existing PoS machines must be upgraded with built-in GPS systems and connected to the National Central Switch, which will monitor their locations through a special software development kit (SDK).
Under the new rule, merchants will only be allowed to process payments within a 10-metre radius of their registered business address. Any terminal that is not geo-tagged before the deadline will be deactivated.
The directive also covers newly deployed devices, which must be geo-tagged before they can be activated. Responsibility for ensuring compliance will fall on operators such as Payment Terminal Service Providers (PTSPs) and mobile money companies.
The CBN stressed that the initiative aims to reduce fraud and eliminate unauthorised PoS activities by ensuring that every device’s location is verified and continuously monitored.
Compliance checks will commence on October 20, 2025, giving operators just two months to upgrade what could amount to more than 4 million active PoS terminals across the country.
The growth of Nigeria’s PoS industry partly explains the new restrictions. As of 2023, the country had 1.5 million registered PoS agents—equivalent to one agent for every 80 people. A recent Bloomberg report also highlighted the density of operators, noting there are as many as 1,600 PoS terminals per square kilometre.
This surge in adoption is one of the main reasons the CBN has introduced tougher oversight rules.
In 2024, the apex bank mandated that all PoS transactions be routed through licensed Payment Terminal Service Aggregators (PTSA) to boost transparency. That same year, operators were required to register their devices with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The latest geo-tagging directive, analysts say, underscores the CBN’s determination to tighten its grip on Nigeria’s booming PoS industry while clamping down on fraud and unauthorised usage.
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