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First Bank’s 125th Anniversary Documentary: Exemplifying Business Sustainability In Africa

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3 years ago

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There should never be any word like “arguably” mentioned in the same statement that clearly describes the First bank of Nigeria as the biggest institution in the country in whatever context or perspective one chooses to look at it from. This is obviously because this iconic brand, in its one hundred and twenty-five years of establishment, has been part of the principal players in the building, financing of Nigeria and Nigerians.

The penultimate bank of Nigeria which boasts of the largest number of shareholders in the country; 1.3 million and over 16 million customers, a feat which no other institution comes close to matching, serves as a point of reference to every other financial institution. What makes it the biggest is not just obviously being the oldest, but, it’s massive coverage and aggressive expansion across the country, decades and decades of consistent huge customer support, investments. The scale of its operation influence in the market is simply understood this way, should anything goes wrong with First Bank, there will be systemic reverberations.

There are currently about 50 million banking people in Nigeria and 24 other banks. This means that over a quarter of all the banking customers put their financial trust in First bank.

In the early 20th century, the Bank of British West Africa (FBN) began expanding aggressively across the regions, with branches opened in Calabar, Zaria, Accra, Kano, Sierra Leone, and many more. When the Kano bank was opened in 1914, an illustrious merchant showed up with three camels saddled with twenty bags of money, deposited that day. Today, First bank has over 82,000 locations spread across all 774 local government areas of the 923, 763 square kilometers. This means that it is everywhere.

Speaking about the magnitude of the greatness, Ibukun Awosika, the Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria, stated that one will have to have an insider point of view to fully and truly have a grasp of what a great institution it is, “when I say “institution”, I meant that; an INSTITUTION. Think of how many different ‘future’ First Bank has gone through. Imagine when it was ten years old, the environment that it was in. 1894, by 1904, what did this region look like. By the time you got to the Amalgamation in 1914, you could only anticipate what was going to happen next. Walkthrough all of those seasons into the season of independence of the country, think of the season when we had a lot of cash crops and everything and the kind of development and the nature of the country and the region, and the emergence of the petrodollar and the different political systems, whether military or whatever we had overtime. And think of an institution that has continuously re-engineered itself effectively for each future that it had to encounter and successfully do it”.

For a bank that is 125 years old, First Bank is ‘not competing’ with its new generation counterparts, but, has remained tremendously relevant, outstanding, and consistently at the forefront over the years, with its capacity and ability to invent and reinvent itself. This has strategically positioned the bank to remain as the dominant financial institution, not just in Nigeria, but in the west and central part of Africa, where it currently plays.

Segun Agbaje, the Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank, who also happens to be the son of J.K. Agbaje, the first appointed African branch manager of First Bank could not hide his respect for the giant bank; “There are very few banks truthfully that I have a lot of respect for because I don’t think that a lot of banks are necessarily doing banking the way I would like it to be done and that probably one of the four or five banks that I think are doing banking properly in Nigeria is definitely First Bank nd that if a Guaranty Trust was able to have the staying power and the strength, and the brand and the trust that obviously First Bank has, then I think it would have done very well”.

Agbaje also reveals his latest competition with First Bank, “[It’s] over NIP volumes. I think that last year we controlled about twenty-five percentage of NIP and First Bank was about eighteen percent. Today, they have used their retail base to go up to about 22.9% of NIP, I think we are 20.9%”.

Some of the big features that stand First Bank out as a financial institution is its financial security, customer support, investment. By far, First Bank has the largest asset base; N5.3 trillion. This gives the customer peace of mind knowing his money is always safe. For over a century, Fist bank has been providing support for so many businesses of different sizes that form the engine of the economy. First Bank has been partners with thousands of both large conglomerates and small businesses.

In the 1920s when Nigerians were beginning to clamor against the unfair taxes by their colonial masters, First bank was there to provide heavy supports for the ordinary Nigerians, in all forms of agriculture, trade, and services. At this time, the bank had become the treasury for the governor and the Central bank of Nigeria, CBN, with a customer base of hundreds of thousands.

During every landmark development of and in Nigeria, First Bank has been there. From roads to bridges, to dams. It was there providing financial support. From the groundnut pyramids and cash crops of the 1930s to the first power lines to the first major railway project that connected the two ends of the country, to the Niger bridge linking major cities, First Bank played a major role in these landmark developments. Even today, the flying elephant has continued to carry the modern agricultural developments, privatization of the power sector, and some of the country’s largest infrastructural projects, both public and private.

First Bank has not only the nation in diverse ways, it is impacting individual lives with valuables in areas of health, education, welfare, and so many other areas. Through its initiative, SPARK, Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness. This initiative has restored visible hope in the family of Kate Ogbonnaya, a recipient whose daughter, Ijeoma Gold Ogbonnaya had a hole in her heart and had a successful surgery. So many others have benefited from this tremendous initiative. Many students have seen their education dreams fulfilled, schools have received buses to help the transportation of students to and fro the school premises.

Bringing the Automated Teller Machine, ATM, and introducing the Western Money Transfer, no doubt, this pioneering bank has continued to evolve and deliver values to generations of Nigeria.

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EFCC indicts Sirika, brother in new N19bn fraud

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4 days ago

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May 14, 2024

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has charged former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, his brother, Ahmad Sirika; and his company – Enginos Nigeria Limited, with over N19.4bn fraud.

The sum is said to be for several aviation ministry contracts from the former minister to Enginos Nigeria Limited, owned by Sirika’s younger brother, Abubakar.

The Sirika brothers and Enginos Nigeria Limited will be arraigned before Justice Belgore of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Garki, Abuja today (Tuesday).

It is the second criminal charge the EFCC will be filing against the ex-aviation minister.

He was last Thursday arraigned for N2.7bn fraud before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja.

Sirika was arraigned on six counts alongside his daughter, Fatimah; brother-in-law, Jalal Hamma, and Al-Buraq Investment Ltd.

The defendants pleaded not guilty while Justice Sylvanus Oriji granted them N100m bail each, with the condition that they must not travel out of the country until the end of the criminal case.

On Monday, EFCC insiders informed The PUNCH that the anti-graft agency had filed a second charge against the ex-minister, bordering on N19.4bn fraud.

In the copy of the fresh charges sighted by our correspondent on Monday, the EFCC alleged that Sirika, “while being the Minister of Aviation, on or about 18th August 2022, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did use your position to confer an unfair advantage upon Enginos Nigeria Limited, whose alter ego, Ahmad Abubakar Sirika, is your biological brother, by using your position to influence the award to him, the contract for the construction of a terminal building at Katsina Airport for the sum of N1,345,586,500.00.”

According to the EFCC, Sirika’s alleged action was a violation of Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under the same section.

In another count, the EFCC alleged that “on or about 3rd of November, 2022, in Abuja,” Sirika used his position “to confer unfair advantage upon Enginos Nigeria Limited, whose alter ego, Ahmad Abubakar Sirika, is your biological brother, by using your position to influence the award to him, the contract for the establishment of Fire Truck Maintenance and Refurbishment Centre at Katsina Airport for the sum of N3,811,497,685.00.”

In another count, he was accused of corruptly awarding a N615,195,275.00 contract to his brother for the procurement and installation of lift and air conditioners and power generators for the Aviation House in Abuja.

Furthermore, the EFCC alleged that Sirika, between August 2022 and May 2023 in Abuja, “had possession of an aggregate sum of N2,337, 840,674.16, which sum you knew indirectly represented the proceeds of criminal conducts of Hadi Abubakar Sirika, who was the Minister of Aviation at the time.”

It was revealed that the ex-minister’s younger brother, Abubakar, was earlier arrested and detained by the EFCC in connection with N3,212,258,930.18 paid to his company, Enginos Nigerian Limited’s bank account by the former minister.

 

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Nigerian Bank chiefs obtain N549bn insider loans in five years

Published

5 days ago

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May 13, 2024

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Directors and key management personnel of Deposit Money Banks borrowed about N549bn from their financial institutions in five years.

This is according to The PUNCH analysis of the banks’ annual reports filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited between 2019 and 2023.

However, the banks’ loans and advances to some directors and key management personnel as well as related party transactions dropped significantly in 2023.

These transactions dropped to N52.40bn for eight financial institutions compared to N111.31bn in 2022, indicating a 52.92 per cent decline in one year.

Financial institutions reviewed in the 2023 review include Access Holdings, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa, Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holding Plc and the FCMB Group.

This decline came amid the release of new corporate governance guidelines by the Central Bank of Nigeria which went into effect August 1, 2023.

In the circular dated July 13, 2023, and signed by Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Chibuzo Efobi, the guidelines which imposed responsibilities on the bank board and the executive compliance officers, supersede other previous codes, circulars and related directives, according to the apex bank.

The CBN guidelines on related party transactions said, “Banks shall establish a policy concerning insider trading and related party transactions by directors, senior executives, and employees, as well as publish the policy or a summary of that policy on their website. 22.2 The policy shall contain appropriate standards and procedures to ensure it is effectively implemented. 22.3 In addition to the requirements in Section 22.2, there shall be an internal review mechanism carried out by the internal audit function of the bank, to assess the compliance and effectiveness of the policy.

“22.4 Any director whose facility or that of his/her related interests remains nonperforming in any financial institution for more than one year shall cease to be on the board of the bank and shall be blacklisted from sitting on the board of such bank and that of any other financial institution under the purview of the CBN. 22.5 No director-related loans and/or interest thereon shall be written off without the CBN’s prior approval.”

Leading the pack in terms of major decline in loans to related parties and entities controlled by key management personnel was Fidelity Bank Plc, which went from N92.31bn at the end of December 2022 to N2.09bn at the end of last year.

In footnotes, the bank however said that some of the related parties like A-Z Petroleum Limited, Dangote Group and Genesis Group as of 31 December 2022, had “exited the related party relationship post 2022 financial year in line with CBN requirement.”

In 2022, the total value of insider loans for 10 banks including Access Holdings, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa, Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holding Plc, FCMB Group, Unity Bank and Sterling Bank amounted to N131.04bn.

Fidelity Bank led the highest for the year, followed by Unity Bank at N17.32bn and UBA at N13.74bn.

In 2021, the loans to related parties of these financial institutions rose to N139.16bn with Fidelity Bank and UBA leading at N97.73bn and N15.28bn, respectively. GTCO trailed in third position with N6.859bn.

Between 2019 and 2020, a total of N226.6bn was disbursed as loans. In 2019, eleven banks borrowed its key management personnel a total sum of N29.65bn. The figure also includes loans to companies related to the directors.

An analysis showed that GTCO lent N155m, Zenith Bank (N1.76bn), UBA borrowed its directors N297m, Wema Bank (N5.2bn), Stanbic IBTC (N95m), FCMB (N4.8bn), Unity Bank(N7.14bn), Sterling Bank (N10.12bn) to related parties.

In 2020, the figure increased by 564 per cent or N167.32bn to N196.97bn.

Checks showed that Access Bank lent the highest with a total of N174bn to its directors and companies related to them. This was followed by Unity Bank with N7.55bn. Third on the list was Sterling Bank with N6.01bn.

Other banks including Fidelity borrowed its directors N986.2m, GTBank (N67.9m), Zenith Bank (N1.797bn), UBA (N206m), Wema Bank (N2.82bn), Stanbic IBTC (N332m), FCMB (N3.2bn), Unity Bank (N7.55bn), Sterling Bank (N6.01bn).

Commenting on the trend, the Chief Research Officer at InvestData Consulting, Ambrose Omordion said “In my language, they say, it is the yam that you know that you use to make pounded yam. If an organisation feels that the insider or director can pay the loans given to them, then there is no issue. It is when they do not pay that is where there would be issues.

“Like what is happening now in the economy, banks are not giving loans to ordinary companies unless those with names because of economic headwinds. If they give loans to the public and they are unable to repay, Non-Performing Loans will rise. If the banks offer to insiders that would pay, it is better for them.”

 

The Punch

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Court Orders Arrest of Ex-Naval Chief, Usman Jibrin Over Alleged N1.5billion Money Laundering Charges

Published

6 days ago

on

May 12, 2024

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Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has ordered the arrest of a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, and two other officers over N1.5 billion money laundering charge.

 

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) dragged the trio before the court over fraud N1.5bn allegations.

 

The court issued the arrest warrant after hearing a motion exparte marked FHC/ABJ/CR/158/2023 and filed by ICPC counsel, Osuobeni Ekoi Akponimisingha.

 

In the motion, the lawyer submitted that Usman Jibrin Oyibe, Adam Imam Yusuf, Brigadier General Ishaya Gangum Bauka (first to third defendants), were investigated for allegations of money laundering and making false statements regarding diversion of funds in their respective military and paramilitary institutions, into companies in which they allegedly had stake.

 

According to him, at the commencement of the investigation into the allegations, the defendants were released on administrative bail on self-recognition because of their status as serving and former public figures and has since then refused to show up for possible arraignment in court.

 

The Lawyer prayed the court for a bench warrant against the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents (Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin Oyibe, Adam Imam Yusuf, and Brigadier General Ishaya Gamgum Bauka) in charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/158/2023 which is pending before the court for the purpose of arresting and bringing them to court for their arraignment and trial.

 

Listed as first to sixth defendants in the 17-count charge are Usman Jibrin Oyibe, Adam Imam Yusuf, Brigadier General Ishaya Gangum Bauka, Lahab integrated & Multi Services Limited, Gate Coast Properties International Limited and Ummays Hummayd Energy Ltd

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