FirstBank opens 24-hour self-service banking centre at UniAbuja
- FirstBank has opened a Digital Xperience Centre at the University of Abuja that runs 24 hours a day, all year.
- Students and staff can withdraw and deposit cash, replace cards and update account details without leaving campus.
- The bank says fingerprint, facial recognition and one-time passwords protect transactions; the university says security is in place.
Students and staff of the University of Abuja can now do their banking on campus at any hour, after FirstBank opened a 24-hour self-service centre there on Tuesday.
The facility, called the Digital Xperience Centre, lets customers withdraw and deposit cash and cheques, check balances, print statements, request or replace ATM cards, and change their registered phone number or email address. It stays open on weekends and public holidays.
Before now, members of the university community had to travel off campus for routine banking, something the university's Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Hakeem Fawehinmi, described as a longstanding gap.
Why it matters
For students, the centre means fewer trips and less transport money spent chasing a bank. FirstBank's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Olusegun Alebiosu, said the aim is to move customers onto digital channels rather than have them queue in banking halls.
"Whether you are leaving the library at midnight or arriving at 5am, you can access cash through the ATM," he said at the commissioning.
According to Leadership, the centre will also serve people living in nearby communities, put at about 40,000, with bank staff on hand to handle complaints.
Digital banking has grown quickly in Nigeria, but so have worries about fraud and stolen personal data. Alebiosu said the centre requires a fingerprint and facial recognition, plus a one-time password sent to the customer's registered phone, before sensitive changes like a new password or phone number are approved.
Fawehinmi raised the risk of vandalism and other security problems, and said the university and the bank have agreed on measures including round-the-clock security surveillance to protect the facility.
What happens next
Alebiosu said FirstBank plans to extend the same model to other university campuses across the country. Students at those schools will be watching to see whether they get similar access.
