Nigerian Banks now offer Instant airtime topup service

If you are in Nigeria and your GSM airtime credit is running low, a quick way to recharge or top it up is by dialing a USSD code provided by your bank. Last time I checked, there were 3 Nigerian banks already offering the service and this includes GTBank, Keystone bank, Fidelity bank and First Bank of Nigeria.

The Instant airtime topup service offered by Nigerian banks is a sort of Quick and convenient airtime recharge service that I would say is the fastest way or recharging airtime credit in Nigeria and for those who still use physical recharge cards or PINS, it's time to move up.

All it takes to load airtime credit to one's phone is by dialing a USSD code relative to your bank, having sufficient credit in your bank account and paying for the cost of dialing the USSD code which is about N4 per request.

The USSD Codes for doing airtime topup for some banks are as follows:
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1. GTBank = *737*AMOUNT#

2. Fidelity Bank = *770*Amount#

3. Keystone bank = *322*082# to register and *322*082*Amount# afterwards to load airtime credit

4. FirstBank = *894*Amount# e.g. *894*1000#

SO, if you've got a bank account with any of the above banks or any banks in the future that may be offering instant airtime topup or recharge, al you need to do is dial their USSD code and the your airtime balance will be credited while your bank account will e debited with the same amount.

Are there any hidden charges? Well, the only charge or fee I know is the cost of accessing the USSD code which is about N4 or so. So, I think one has to at least have about N5 airtime credit before dialing the code for instant airtime topup to work properly.

How does it really work?
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I think the banks already offering this service have setup customized short codes that allows their customers to load airtime credit from their already registered phones such that when the customer uses the recognized phones to request for airtime topup from their bank, the bank accepts it and the network provider provides the airtime credit automatically using the Virtual Topup service they are already operating.

I have to say that this is the fastest way of loading airtime credit in Nigeria.

Some Conditions
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- You need to at least have some airtime balance of about N5 on your phone
- You also need to have sufficient money in your bank account
- You need to be in a place covered by your network provider
- Your bank must be already offering the service
- Your bank already has your phone number in their database

If you don't meet any of the above conditions, then this airtime topup or recharge service may not work well for you.