My US startup sent me to a Nigerian bank today. The irony is painful.

So my company wants me to receive a vendor payment through a local bank account. Simple, right? I walk into my branch on Adetokunbo Ademola Street at 10am. By 11:30 I am still sitting there watching three different people tell me different versions of 'the system is down'. One lady says network issue, another says server maintenance, the third just shrugs and points at the queue.

Meanwhile my Slack is lighting up with my American colleagues asking why the payment hasn't reflected. I am trying to explain NIBSS downtime to people who think 'banking app' means everything works instantly. The data suggests this is a weekly occurrence but somehow we still pretend we are moving forward.

I eventually left without completing the transaction. On my way out I saw the same bank has a brand new 'digital transformation' banner hanging in the lobby. Na wa.