Okupe urges govt to ban banks from selling airtime

The selling of telecommunications airtime by banks through their mobile apps and shortcodes, have been described as a way of choking out small individuals who are engaged in the trade.

A former presidential aide, Doyin Okupe, stated this while calling on government to ban banks from selling telecoms airtime.

Okupe, who made the call in a tweet on his Twitter handle on Tuesday, said the airtime business is a N10 billion per day sub-sector, adding that banks are suffocating small individual traders out, arguing that government has a responsibility to protect the weak in the society.

“Government must stop Banks from selling of RECHARGE cards. This business is worth about N10B/day& can provide jobs for 5m youths nationwide and reduce unemployment. Banks should not be in the retail business where they strangulate small individual traders. The government must protect MSMEs.

“Even under capitalism, the government still has the responsibility to protect the weak in the society against the strong and mighty. Secondly, the banking license does not cover Retail business. Any society that is not regulated is close to a jungle where might is right, which is undesirable”, Okupe tweeted.