Nigerian Banks Will Start Deducting USSD Charges From Customers Airtime

Starting June 3, 2025, Nigerian banks will start deducting USSD charges directly from customers’ mobile airtime instead of their bank accounts. This is a new rule from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that changes how people pay for USSD banking services.

USSD is a popular way many Nigerians do their banking without needing the internet. You just dial a short code on your phone, and you can check your balance, transfer money, or pay bills. Before now, the small fee for using USSD was taken from your bank account. But now, banks will deduct this fee from the airtime on your phone.

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The United Bank for Africa (UBA) told its customers about this change in an email. They said each USSD session will cost about ₦7 for every 2 minutes you use it. The fee will be charged by your mobile network provider, like MTN, Airtel, or Globacom. When you start a USSD session, you will get a message asking if you agree to pay with your airtime. If you don’t want to use USSD this way, you can stop using the USSD service anytime.

This change is happening because there has been a big problem between banks and mobile network companies. The mobile companies said banks owe them a lot of money, about ₦250 billion, because banks were not paying for USSD services properly. The mobile networks even threatened to stop USSD services, which would have made it hard for many people to do their banking.

To fix this, the NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stepped in. They told banks to pay off most of the money they owe by the end of 2024 and to pay future bills on time. The new rule to deduct USSD charges from airtime is part of the solution to make sure mobile networks get paid quickly and fairly.

Some mobile network operators are still worried about how this change will work. They want to make sure customers are not charged twice or face other problems. But banks have started following the new rule, and customers are now seeing Nigerian banks deducting USSD charges from airtime when they use the service.

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If you don’t want to pay USSD fees from your airtime, you can choose other ways to do your banking, like using mobile apps, internet banking, or ATMs. But for many people without easy internet access, USSD remains one of the easiest ways to bank.

Nigerian banks will now deduct USSD charges from your phone’s airtime instead of your bank account. This change helps fix the money problem between banks and mobile networks and keeps USSD banking running smoothly for everyone.

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