Providus Bank has been thrown into financial and legal turmoil after a system glitch led to unauthorised transfers totaling N482,702,750 from the account of one of its customers, Payaza Africa Limited, NAIJAONPOINT reports.
According to an affidavit filed before the Federal High Court in Lagos, deposed to by Chukwuebuka Chikelue, Head of Financial Operations at Payaza Africa Limited, the glitch occurred on October 25, 2025, on Providus Bank server and was exploited by several digital banking agents.
Chikelue, in a 19-paragraph affidavit, stated that the system failure allowed certain service merchants and agents “to unlawfully initiate multiple transfers from Payaza’s payout account into various bank accounts domiciled across 14 different financial institutions.”
He said that Payaza Africa Ltd allegedly suffered rapid and repeated withdrawals, with the total loss amounting to nearly half a billion naira (N482.7 million) before the anomaly was detected.
Payaza warned that unless all related accounts were frozen, the perpetrators would continue to “dissipate the funds through their other linked accounts,” placing investors and customers’ money at further risk.
The judge after reviewing the affidavit and supporting exhibits, granted a sweeping Interim Mareva Injunction, ordering 14 commercial banks to freeze, block, place a lien, and apply “Post No Debit” restrictions on every account connected to the BVN details of the alleged beneficiaries.
The court further directed the banks to disclose all credit balances in the affected accounts within seven days, covering transactions from October 24, 2025, to date.
NAIJAONPOINT reports that the incident underscores rising concerns about system vulnerabilities in Nigeria’s banking sector amid the nation’s economic turbulence and growing reliance on digital financial transactions.