Amos Oladapo (pseudonym), a graphics artist, saved some money in the Pryme Financials in 2024. He first experienced a problem with the mobile app in June, then it persisted till December. The company promised to rectify the issue, but Oladapo’s money still lies in the app unusable.
Oladapo told FIJ that he was once a Pryme Financials staff. He said he designed graphics for Edoka Idoko, a co-founder of the company and CEO.
“I was reporting to the CEO directly. It was still a startup at the time,” Oladapo said.
Oladapo said that he stopped working with the company because of loads of commitment from other places as a graphics designer. Being an ex-staff, he was still much in contact with Idoko.
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The app started to develop hitches in June, Oladapo recalled, and the glitch did not seem to be a potentially long-term issue.
“It was working fine initially, but at a point, I noticed that when you deposit money in the app, it goes, but when you start making transactions, it does not go,” Oladapo said.
I was less concerned because I know the CEO, and anytime I call, they can always resolve the issue for me.”
With this knowledge in mind, Oladapo said he opted to move his savings in the app to a fixed deposit account. He expected that the downtime would not persist till the set date he planned to access his money about seven months later.
Later on, Oladapo made another deposit into his savings account. When he needed to transfer N20,000 from the app, he got the rude awakening that the issue would take more time than he had thought.
“Whenever I make any transaction, they reverse the money immediately, and when they do this, the balance does not reflect on your main account immediately. It takes time. Sometimes, you have to send an email before they start tracing it,” Oladapo recounted.
“Due to that process, I had lost N20,000. After that time, I just stopped putting money in the app, but as at that time, I had had N432,000 in the app.”
When the maturity date of his fixed deposit was reached on December 10, eight months later, his attempt to withdraw the funds got a similar outcome.
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Oladapo contacted the app’s support team. They told him they were working on the app, and that withdrawal would only be available on the app between December 16 and 20.
Before this time, all the messages and consistent attempts to talk to Pryme Financials and Idoko, his former boss, were met with silence, until he sent a mail where he copied the Central Bank.
On December 20, Idoko assured him that the process of fixing the app was underway, he should be patient a little longer.
“He also told me that many other people were having the same problem. Obviously, other people were having the same problem,” Oladapo added.
“Few weeks later, I started messaging him. Nothing. Few weeks later, nothing.”
At press time, Oladapo said he had not heard anything else from Idoko.
When FIJ called Idoko on Wednesday, the calls were repeatedly dropped. Oladapo provided FIJ with the contact details of Tunde, one of the company’s staff.
When FIJ spoke to Tunde, he confirmed that Oladapo was a former member of staff. He reiterated Idoko’s promise that they were working to resolve the issue.
The post Graphics Artist’s N450,000 Stuck in Pryme App for 2 Months appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.