Nigerian Woman Returns £330m Mistakenly Credited to Her Account

By Micheal Chukwuebuka

A Nigerian woman, Aisha Isah Yelwa, has demonstrated remarkable integrity by returning £330m mistakenly credited to her bank account. Mrs Yelwa, a petty trader based in Lapai, Niger State, discovered the unusual balance in her First Bank account on Monday, December 29, 2025, at about 3:49pm.

According to her, the discovery came days after she had lodged complaints with the bank over repeated debits linked to loans she previously obtained to sustain her business. She explained that while checking her account to confirm whether the debiting issue had been resolved, she was shocked to see an amount she had never handled in her life.

Mrs Yelwa stated: “In order to be sure it wasn’t a display error, I made a transaction of N1 million from the account, and there was still no credit alert. That was when I became more confused and worried.”

She remained silent until Tuesday morning, when she visited the Lapai branch of First Bank to formally report the anomaly. The branch manager commended her honesty after confirming that the funds were the result of a system error and immediately took steps to reverse the transaction.

Despite her action, Mrs Yelwa faced criticism from some members of the public who questioned her decision to return the money. To protect herself legally, she went to the bank with a lawyer to ensure proper documentation of the process.

According to her, the bank assured her that she bore no liability and would only be contacted if further clarification was required. Reflecting on the incident, Mrs Yelwa said she felt fulfilled doing the right thing, describing the act as a matter of integrity and concern for her children’s future.