Banking
Bank CEOs, Others Jittery Over EFCC Asset Declaration Directive
By Dipo Olowookere
Some executives of financial institutions, including the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria, are jittery over a new directive of the nation’s chief anti-money laundering agency.
On March 16, 2021, the newly appointed chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Abdulrashed Bawa, said employees of financial institutions in the country, including their CEOs, have till June 1, 2021, to declare their assets.
Mr Bawa said this when he addressed newsmen after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The EFCC boss said the failure of any banker in the country to declare his/her assets by the deadline will result in imprisonment for a term of 10 years as stipulated by the law.
The directive has legal backing
He told journalists that the Bank Employees, ETC. (Declaration of Assets) Act 1986 mandates every employee of a bank to make full disclosure of assets upon employment, and annually in subsequent years.
According to him, section 7 (1) of the law stipulates that, “It shall be an offence for an employee of a bank to own assets in excess of his legitimate known and provable income.”
He added that section 7(2) emphasised that, “Any employee guilty of an offence under subsection (1) of this section shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for 10 years and shall, in addition, forfeit the excess assets or its equivalent in money to the federal government.”
Reason for the order
Mr Bawa said his agency is triggering these provisions to sanitize the nation’s financial system and block some of the loopholes currently being exploited by unscrupulous players in the sector to undermine Nigerian economy through money laundering and illicit financial flows.
He said the EFCC was determined to tackle money laundering in the country and bring sanity into the financial system.
Bank executives already jittery
But since this information was revealed yesterday, some bank executives have been nervous and sources close to some of them informed Business Post that efforts are being made to lobby powerbrokers in the country to push the deadline forward.
“I can tell you that this statement by the EFCC chairman is not going down well with a lot of bank executives.
“I can also tell you for a fact that some of them are making efforts to clean up their tracks and possibly talk to those in power to extend the June 1 deadline.
“To them, the timeframe is too short and they believe it should be moved forward except the EFCC chair wants to use this as a vendetta,” one of the sources told this newspaper.
Another said, “I am not surprised this is coming from the EFCC chairman. He is vast in financial crimes and forensic. He has handled cases of high-profile Nigerians and he knows how senior bankers help politicians to launder money.
“A few of us saw this coming and we expect more from him because he knows the game very well. He has already thrown many top executives of banks into confusion with this directive. I think it is good for the financial sector.”
Buhari supports directive
But it is not certain how these CEOs and executives would go about it as the President fully supports the EFCC chairman on this directive.
Mr Bawa, according to information gathered, was in Abuja yesterday to discuss this issue with him and by informing State House Correspondents of the development shows that he has the full banking of Mr Buhari.
President Buhari has not hidden his desire to clean up the country of corruption. In fact, it is one of the key targets of his administration and he has been fighting corruption vigorously since he assumed office in 2019.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The six edition of the Hackaholics of Wema Bank Plc has produced 20 top finalists shared equally between two streams, Ideathon and Hackathon.
The Hackathon finalists are Rapid DEV, Secure IT, Neurafeed, Trust Lock Babcock, Pulse Track, IlluminiTrust, Trust Lock FUTA, Fix Fraud AI, KASH Flow and VOC AI.
The Ideathon finalists include PLOY, Fertitude, VarsityScape, Mama ALERT, StockMed, Chao, All Arbitrate, FarmSlate, Sane AI and Cycle X.
They emerged after a two-day pre-pitch held on December 16 and 17, 2025, for the grand finale slated for Friday, December 19, 2025.
They grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0 will convene the top players in Africa’s tech and innovation ecosystem, creating an avenue for these finalists to not only put their creativity to the ultimate test but also give their solutions visibility to potential investors for additional funding opportunities beyond the prizes to be won.
The prizes to be won for the Ideathon include N25 million for the winner, N20 million for the first runner-up, N15 million for the second runner-up and N5 million each for two women-led teams.
In the Hackathon category, the first to fourth-place winners will receive N20 million, N15 million, N10 million and N5 million, respectively.
The pre-pitch saw the top 43 contenders battle in a game of innovation and problem solving, presenting compelling pitches for a chance to make it to top 10 in their respective streams.
After a rigorous stretch of pitches and presentations, the top 20 emerged, securing their spot in the grand finale of Hackaholics 6.0.
“Hackaholics started off as a hackathon and morphed into an ideation. For Hackaholics 6.0, the sixth edition, we decided to give both the builders of new solutions and the refiners of existing ones, an opportunity to make meaningful impact.
“For us at Wema Bank, we understand that innovation isn’t just building from scratch. Sometimes, it’s looking at what exists and developing new ways to optimise that and create more efficiency. This is the idea behind our two-stream Ideathon-Hackathon structure.
“Every year, Hackaholics shows us just how eager and motivated Nigerian youth are when it comes to exploring creativity and innovation, and we are honoured to be the institution that provides them with the platform and resources to put this drive to good use.
“We toured seven cities, indulged 1,460 participants and discovered hundreds of remarkable ideas; some of which needed some refining and some of which deserved to move to the next stage.
“For those who needed to go back to the drawing board, we provided useful guidance and for the top contenders, we were able to shortlist to the top 43, who proceeded to the pre-pitch. To every participant, Wema Bank is proud of you. This is just the beginning,” the chief executive of Wema Bank, Mr Moruf Oseni, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it will enforce penalties against designated banks that delay the remittance of customs revenue, in a move aimed at strengthening transparency and safeguarding government earnings.
This was disclosed in a statement on the NCS official account on X, formerly known as Twitter and signed by its spokesman, Mr Abdullahi Maiwada, who said the delays undermine the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“The Nigeria Customs Service has noted instances of delayed remittance of customs revenue by some designated banks following reconciliation of collections processed through the B’odogwu platform,” the statement read.
“Such delays constitute a breach of remittance obligations and negatively impact the efficiency, transparency, and integrity of government revenue administration.
“In line with the provisions of the Service Level Agreement executed between the Nigeria Customs Service and designated banks, the Service hereby notifies stakeholders of the commencement of enforcement actions against banks found to be in default of agreed remittance timelines.”
Mr Maiwada disclosed that any bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed timeline will be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the period of the delay.
He added that affected banks would be formally notified of the delayed amounts, the applicable penalty, and the deadline for settlement.
“Accordingly, any designated bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed period shall be liable to penalty interest calculated at three per cent above the prevailing Nigerian Interbank Offered Rate for the duration of the delay.
“Affected banks will receive formal notifications indicating the delayed amount, applicable penalty, and the timeline for settlement,” the statement read.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deputy managing director of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Limited, Mr Ini Ebong, has offloaded some shares of FBN Holdings Plc, the parent firm of the banking institution.
A regulatory notice from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited confirmed the development on Thursday.
It was disclosed that the transaction occurred on Friday, December 12, 2025, on the floor of the stock exchange.
The sale involved about 11.8 million shares, precisely 11,783,333 units traded at N31.14 per share, amounting to about N366.9 million.
Mr Ebong, who studied Architecture from University of Ife and obtained Bachelor and Master of Science degrees, became the DMD of First Bank in June 2024. Prior to this appointment, he was Executive Director, Treasury and International Banking since January 2022.
He was previously the Group Executive, Treasury and International Banking, a position he held since 2016 after serving as the bank’s Treasurer from 2011 to 2016.
Before joining First Bank, he was the Head of African Fixed Income and Local Markets Trading, Renaissance Securities Nigeria Limited, the Nigerian registered subsidiary of Renaissance Capital. He also worked with Citigroup for 14 years as Country Treasurer and Sales and Trading Business Head.
He has a passion for market development and has worked actively to drive change and internationalisation of the Nigerian financial markets: foreign exchange, fixed income and securities.
He has worked closely with regulatory bodies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Debt Management Office (DMO) in assisting with the development of fresh monetary and foreign exchange policies, to broaden and deepen markets and open them up to international practices.
At various times he has facilitated and delivered courses and seminars on a wide variety of subjects covering Money Markets, Securities and Foreign exchange trading and market risk management subjects to regulators, corporate customers, banks and market participants.
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