TheCable

Shola Adekunle had awoken to what he thought was a lovely day. He had, as usual, high expectations for how wonderful the day would be. He was unaware that the day had a schedule.

Adekunle’s irritation began when he caught a cab to the office. He paid N4,000 for an Uber ride from Ikeja, Lagos, to Victoria Island. According to him, the issue was with payment rather than price.

“When I arrived at my last bus stop to pay, it began for me like a movie.” My bank app was trying to load but wouldn’t work. Adekunle described his experience: “I even requested the driver to connect to his hot spot, and when it did, I performed the transaction, but there was no sign of a successful transaction.”

“The driver then inquired as to whether I had an OPay account, stating that only such accounts would allow the transaction to be completed. It surprised me, and at that point, I was already running late for work, so I would do anything to pay off the driver and go.”

For Grace Okechukwu, it wasn’t an issue with Uber drivers or trying to get to work, but it is an issue as serious as buying foodstuff for daily survival from traders at the local market.

“For the past few weeks, I haven’t been able to withdraw cash from the ATMs, and the banks were not giving me enough cash”

“The traders in the market kept saying that they don’t even accept any transactions that are not coming from Opay or as it is the only reliable platform for transactions. “I had to download the app when I got back home and deposited N100,000 in the account and I haven’t been having transaction issues.”

A lot of businesses have also switched to digital payment platforms due to their fast and reliable features.

Mrs Bunmi who sells Foodstuff in the Oshodi market in Lagos explained that OPay has been her one trusted platform this period. According to Bunmi, it is one of the easiest and quicker accounts she has ever opened.

“The Iya Oja (Market leader) advised that we should open an OPay account. She called someone that came to explain and introduce how it works and since then that’s what we have been using,” she said.

“Since I opened the account, it has been working for me and my neighbours all use OPay to make transactions.”