ABUJA — The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have proposed instant refunds—within 30 seconds—for failed airtime and data transactions, in a move aimed at curbing persistent billing disputes in the telecommunications sector.
The proposal is contained in the Exposure Draft of the Joint CBN–NCC Framework for the Resolution of Failed Airtime and Data Purchase Transactions, published on the CBN’s website on Monday. Dated February 5, 2026, the draft seeks to institutionalise clear accountability and establish a coordinated consumer redress mechanism across Nigeria’s financial and telecoms ecosystems.
At the core of the proposed framework is a shift to standardised, automated resolution timelines. Nigerians currently face prolonged delays when airtime or data purchases fail—whether at the bank, aggregator, or mobile network operator (MNO) level. To address this, the regulators are proposing a 30-second window for automated reversals, requiring no customer intervention.
According to Section 6.0(ii) of the draft, refunds must be processed within 30 seconds if a transaction fails at the bank level, with NCC-authorised licensees, or during delivery from MNOs to authorised vendors. The framework mandates full automation of reversal processes across all stakeholders.
To streamline operations and improve consumer experience, the draft outlines additional requirements, including mandatory connections only to CBN- and NCC-authorised licensees, and stricter controls on digital channel partnerships. Failure notifications would trigger final settlement obligations between MNOs and NCC-authorised licensees, while both regulators reserve the right to conduct periodic compliance audits.
From an oversight standpoint, the CBN and NCC are proposing a Central Monitoring Dashboard, to be jointly hosted by both agencies. The dashboard would track reversals, service-level agreement (SLA) breaches, and customer complaints in real time, creating a national “Failed Transactions Dashboard” with uniform error codes and end-to-end visibility across the value chain.
The initiative is designed to end the long-standing blame game between banks and telecom operators over failed recharges. Under the proposal, banks and MNOs will be required to maintain and share daily reports detailing successful and failed transactions.
The draft also addresses issues linked to recharges on ported numbers, directing MNOs to validate numbers against the ported-number database before processing any transaction. Where a number is identified as invalid or ported out, the system must halt the recharge and return a failure code to prevent customer debits.
For erroneous transfers to wrong recipients, the framework sets clear recovery rules: transactions below ₦20,000 would require the recipient’s consent for reversal, while amounts above ₦20,000 would require an affidavit of indemnity or notarised letter.
The regulators signalled a tough compliance stance, warning that penalties will be imposed for any breach. Joint quarterly audits will be conducted on banks, payment service providers, aggregators, and MNOs to ensure adherence to the new rules.
Stakeholders have until February 10, 2026, to submit feedback on the draft. Once finalised and implemented, the framework is expected to significantly boost consumer confidence and restore trust in Nigeria’s digital payments and telecoms ecosystem.
