OurPass, thou shall not pass

OurPass once billed itself as a buzzy e-commerce startup that promised to change how Nigerians shopped online with one-click payments. Investors bought in, and the company raised $1 million, led by Tekedia Capital.

Three years later, after pivoting from e-commerce to business banking and then to personal banking, the startup has left a trail of unpaid salaries, stranded customer deposits, and even the arrest of an employee.

The problems began in June 2024 when a phishing scam drained ₦25 million ($16,260) from company accounts. Within a week, police arrested a senior employee on suspicion of involvement. His detention, described in internal emails as “traumatic and life-threatening,” ended without charges after investigators found no evidence linking him to the fraud.

By the end of 2024, layoffs hit the company hard, with staff leaving unpaid. Customers soon found themselves unable to access deposits. Complaints piled up on social media and in customer service channels, according to screenshots seen by TechCabal. 

One pharmacy is owed ₦71 million ($46,200), while another customer has ₦23 million ($14,960) stuck in their account for more than six months.

In WhatsApp exchanges with customers, CEO Samuel Eze repeatedly blamed “technical issues” tied to a core banking migration. But he offered neither a clear timeline nor a resolution.

Our inside story of the company’s struggles drops by 9am today and you can read it here.

In 2024, Nigerian banks got more serious about tech, upgrading their core banking applications (CBAs) to keep up with surging digital transaction volumes. Most lenders, including tier-1 banks like GTBank and Access, turned to foreign platforms such as Finacle and Flexcube. Sterling Bank, a mid-tier lender, went the other way: it built its own CBA, SEABaaS.

Catch up: The rollout was rocky. Customers endured weeks of downtime and widespread frustration before the system came online. But a year later, Sterling says SEABaaS has processed 2 billion transactions without downtime.

Between the lines: Peerless Technologies, which co-built the platform, claims SEABaaS has already saved $10 million in operational costs for clients. Still, without clarity on Sterling’s upfront investment, it is hard to benchmark costs against foreign platforms that dominate the market.

The “build vs buy” debate flared last year, with advocates of local solutions arguing that homegrown systems reduce costs, create jobs, and offer better familiarity and after-sales support.

State of play: Critics called it risky. Yet, Sterling, one of the few banks running a locally built CBA, is betting the gamble pays off. Sterling’s conviction might be paying off in cost savings. If it continues and the numbers on uptime, availability, and resiliency make sense beyond the surface headlines, other financial institutions could see reasons to go local.

Zoom out: The push raises a bigger question: could the same conviction spill over into other parts of Africa’s tech stack, like cloud services, that remain some of the biggest cost drains for startups?

One year after Unity Bank, a struggling Nigerian lender, requested a merger with mid-tier Providus Bank, the deal could finally get shareholder approval on September 26. If approved, Unity Bank’s shares will be cancelled, and Providus Bank will take over the enlarged entity. Shareholders will get either ₦3.18 ($0.0021) per Unity Bank share in cash or an equity swap of 18 Providus Bank shares for every 17 Unity Bank shares.

Between the lines: The merger is part of a broader push by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure banks meet the new capital requirements. Nigerian lenders must either raise capital, merge, or risk having their banking licences downgraded. Unity Bank, which reported a ₦62.6 billion ($41 million) loss in 2023 and a negative capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 76.14%, clearly needed a lifeline. Providus, meanwhile, will gain scale, adding Unity’s assets, liabilities, and operations to its balance sheet, creating a stronger mid-tier player that could better compete in Nigeria’s banking sector.

State of play: Through the recapitalisation exercise, the regulator seeks to make banks well-capitalised with deep treasury reserves and better positioned to withstand currency swings and economic shocks. For customers, the merger provides reassurance. Deposits will continue to be insured by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), helping prevent panic withdrawals or bank runs. 

Similar interventions have worked in the past, from Heritage Bank’s 2024 restructuring to the 2019 merger of Access Bank and Diamond Bank.

Zoom out: If approved, this merger marks another step in Nigeria’s banking consolidation trend, showing that regulatory oversight, strategic recapitalisation, and carefully structured mergers can keep the financial system resilient while giving mid-tier banks a stronger platform to grow.

Shuttlers, the Lagos-based mobility startup, has added an electric bus to its fleet, months after introducing 20 compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered vehicles. The new EV was launched in partnership with SAGLEV Electromobility Limited, the first fully Electric Vehicle assembly plant in sub-Saharan Africa. It runs on the Ogba – Ikate route in Lagos and marks the startup’s shift from petrol-powered transport.

Is Shuttlers moving on from CNG already? Not exactly. The CNG rollout had already reduced rider cost by 29% and cut 23.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Yes, while cheaper and cleaner than petrol, CNG adoption comes with its safety concerns as cylinders are usually propped in the undercarriage of the buses. The EV launch shows that the shared mobility startup is serious about providing cleaner tech.

Nigeria’s EV market is still in its early days, but momentum is already building. The market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.8% from 2025 to 2031. Other local mobility startups are already playing in the EV territory. In April, Bolt launched electric tricycles in Lagos in partnership with SGX Mobility. Days before, Lagos-based EV manufacturer Foltï Technologies Limited launched eDryv, a ride-hailing service powered by 95% solar energy.

For commuters, this innovation boils down to cheaper and cleaner rides. Whether it is CNG or EVs, Shuttlers is willing to test multiple alternatives as Nigeria’s mobility landscape evolves.