What should have been a celebratory moment for Nigerian fintech company Paga quickly turned into a public complaints session after the company announced the Central Bank of Nigeria’s approval of Ope Oyinloye as Chief Executive Officer of Paga Nigeria.
The fintech company had announced the leadership transition as part of a broader restructuring aimed at driving its next growth phase across Africa.
Tayo Oviosu transitioned into the role of Group CEO to focus on expansion into new markets, artificial intelligence, stablecoins, and digital financial infrastructure.
The development followed a strong performance period for the company, which disclosed that it processed $11 billion across 169 million transactions in 2025 alone.
However, beneath the congratulatory messages on Facebook, several users used the opportunity to express frustration over unresolved transaction issues, delayed reversals, and what they described as poor customer service experiences.
Many commenters claimed they had experienced failed transactions or account-related problems that allegedly remained unresolved for extended periods.
One Facebook user, identified as Nnanna Onyedikachi, wrote that he had stopped using the platform due to repeated transaction challenges and difficulty reaching customer support.
Another commenter, Maryann Eze, alleged that funds deducted from her account during a failed transaction were not reversed promptly despite multiple complaints to customer care.
Similarly, Abdul Rasheed accused the company of responding slowly to customer complaints, stating that digital payment platforms should prioritize dispute resolution and transparency.
Olatunji Samuel expressed frustration over the core functionality of the app, stating,
“Your network is very bad, I have been trying to perform a transaction since yesterday and it’s not going through.”
The difficulty in reaching human support was a recurring theme. Ifeanyi Okeke noted,
“Paga used to be the best, but now getting across to customer care is like passing through a needle’s eye. My funds have been hung for three days.”
Blessing Adebayo highlighted the anxiety of missing funds, commenting,
“Congratulations to the new CEO, but please tell your team to refund my 15,000 Naira. The transaction failed but I was debited, and your bot is not helping matters.”
Reflecting a shift in loyalty, Musa Ibrahim wrote,
“I have been using Paga for 5 years, but the recent frequent downtimes are making me look for alternatives. You guys need to fix the engine, not just change the drivers.”
Some users also criticized what they described as automated customer support systems that make it difficult to escalate urgent issues to human representatives.
Others questioned why fintech companies continue to expand aggressively while unresolved customer complaints persist on social media platforms.
The reactions highlight a growing challenge facing Nigeria’s fast-growing fintech ecosystem: balancing rapid expansion with customer trust and service reliability.
Over the past decade, fintech platforms have transformed digital payments and financial inclusion across Nigeria, processing billions of naira in daily transactions. Yet, customer complaints around failed transfers, delayed reversals, frozen accounts, and poor complaint resolution continue to generate public concern.
For Paga, the backlash comes at a critical moment as the company positions itself for a broader continental expansion strategy.
The company recently described its “Act 2” growth phase as one focused on deepening Africa’s financial infrastructure, expanding into new African markets, and investing in emerging technologies.
Industry analysts note that as fintech companies scale, customer experience and trust management are becoming just as important as transaction growth metrics and valuation milestones.
While many users acknowledged Paga’s role in advancing digital payments and financial access in Nigeria, the reactions on social media suggest that unresolved service complaints can quickly overshadow corporate achievements.
As of the time of filing this report, Paga had not publicly responded to the specific customer complaints raised under the Facebook announcement post.
