Plans are underway by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to tackle failed airtime and data transactions.

The two institutions have issued an exposure draft of a joint national framework, which is aimed at tackling failed airtime and data purchase transactions amid rising consumer complaints over unsuccessful airtime and data purchases.

The draft framework guidelines seek to clearly lay out accountability, standardise resolution timelines and establish an automated, end-to-end process for refunds across Nigeria’s financial and telecommunications ecosystems.

The draft guidelines were developed by the CBN’s Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion Department in collaboration with the NCC’s Consumer Affairs Bureau, mobile network operators (MNOs), banks, payment service providers and other industry stakeholders.

Under the proposed guidelines, failed airtime or data transactions, where customers are debited without receiving value, would receive instant reversals, with refunds expected in real time or within seconds once a failure is confirmed.

Known as unified Service Level Agreements (SLAs), common error codes and automated reconciliation processes to eliminate delays that have historically stretched into days or weeks is likely going to be a thing of the past.

According to the Director, Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion of the CBN, Aisha Isa-Olatinwo, the apex bank and NCC identified key causes of transaction failures to include network downtime, lack of real-time visibility across the value chain, insufficient airtime or data stock held by aggregators, system integration gaps, and errors arising from ported or invalid phone numbers.

The guidelines noted that to address the challenges associated with failed airtime and data purchases, CBN and NCC said stakeholders would be required to deploy end-to-end transaction visibility tools, validate numbers against the mobile number portability database before vending, and limit repeated debit attempts.

Also, banks, MNOs, NCC-authorised licensees and merchants are assigned defined responsibilities, including mandatory customer notifications for successful or failed transactions and automated reversals without requiring customer intervention.

On failed transactions at any point, banks, aggregators or the MNO must activate immediate status updates and refunds, while pending transactions must be resolved within specified hours or treated as failed and reversed.

A central monitoring dashboard is expected to be hosted jointly by the CBN and NCC, which will track reversals, SLA breaches and consumer complaints nationwide.

The guidelines also stated that stakeholders would be audited periodically, publish quarterly SLA compliance scorecards and face penalties for possible breaches.

The draft guidelines have been opened for public comments, with banks, financial institutions, payment service providers and members of the public urged to submit inputs to the CBN by February 20, 2026, ahead of final adoption.