Banking
CBN Begs Court Not to Compel First Bank to Pay N123b Debt
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A Federal High Court sitting in Owerri, Imo State, has been urged by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) not to make absolute the temporary garnishee order it granted six chiefs representing the Ogoni community, compelling it (CBN) to pay the sum of N122.53 billion on behalf of First Bank of Nigeria Limited (First Bank).
According to ThisDay, CBN’s lead counsel, Professor Fabian Ajogwu (SAN), while responding to a new suit filed by the judgment creditors (Ogoni chiefs) seeking to commit First Bank, its chairman, Mrs Ibukun Awosika, and Managing Director, Dr Sola Adeduntan, to prison for alleged contempt for not paying them the sum of over N122.53 billion, stated that making the order absolute and compelling the CBN to pay out the huge sum would be against the interest of justice because the matter was still pending at the Supreme Court.
There are concerns that compelling the CBN to pay the N122.53 billion from First Bank’s funds domiciled with the central bank could have far-reaching consequences for Nigeria’s oldest and biggest lender by assets and deposits, and a systemic impact on the rest of the financial system and wider economy.
But in a statement yesterday, the bank said it was a responsible and law abiding corporate citizen with the capacity and character to, on a consistent basis, meet its obligations as and when due.
The case, which started in 1991, was originally instituted at the Rivers State High Court, Nchia Division, by six indigenes of Ogoniland against the Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Netherlands, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, United Kingdom, and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria Limited over alleged oil spills that occurred when Shell operated in the community.
The plaintiffs alleged that it was the same case that led to the Ogoni struggle championed by the late Mr Ken Saro Wiwa.
Judgment was eventually entered in their favour against Shell by the state High Court, whereupon the defendant appealed against the said judgment.
However, in 2001, a fresh suit was commenced by some representatives of the Ogoni people before the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt presided over by Justice Ibrahim Buba claiming N17 billion and interests on the said sum for the losses allegedly caused by the oil spills.
Justice Buba, after listening to the submissions of the parties in the suit, in his judgment in 2010, awarded N17 billion to the representatives of the Ogoni people.
The court equally granted the Ogoni chiefs 25 per cent interest charge on the principal sum of about N17 billion.
SPDC then appealed against the judgment and applied for a stay of execution of the judgment pending the appeal.
As a condition for granting the stay of execution, the court required Shell’s bankers, First Bank, to provide a guarantee of the judgment sum.
This condition was complied with. But Shell’s appeal failed at the Court of Appeal on technical grounds, ostensibly because it filed its processes out of time and without regularising them.
When the oil giant proceeded to the Supreme Court, it also failed as the court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal.
Accordingly, last December, the judgment creditors (Ogoni representatives) commenced garnishee proceedings at the Federal High Court in Owerri presided over by Justice Lewis Allagoa.
They urged the CBN to pay them N122.53 billion out of First Bank’s account in its custody.
THISDAY gathered that they calculated the principal sum of N17 billion and the accrued 25 per cent interest charge per annum to arrive at the sum of N122,533,403,392.
In January, Justice Allagoa granted them a temporary order (garnishee nisi) ordering the CBN to pay them the sum from First Bank’s account with it.
The judgment creditors, Chief Isaac Osaro Agbara and five others (representing the Ogoni community) are represented by Mr. Lucius Nwosu (SAN) as the lead counsel, while First Bank is represented by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) as lead counsel.
Shell, against whom the judgment was made and who wants to be joined in the garnishee proceedings, having filed a motion for joinder, is represented by Mr Wale Akoni (SAN), while the garnishee, CBN, which is allegedly in custody of the N122.53 billion is represented by Ajogwu.
When the suit came up for hearing before Justice Lewis-Allagoa of the Federal High Court in Owerri last Friday, Ajogwu, filed a motion before the court to set aside the temporary garnishee order on the grounds that the CBN was not indebted to and does not have the private funds of First Bank in its custody.
However, Akoni’s motion for Shell to be joined in the garnishee proceedings could not be taken.
Ajogwu contended that the consent of the Attorney General of the Federation was not obtained to attach the money alleged to be in the custody of a public officer, contrary to the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act.
He also argued that the funds alleged to be in the custody of the CBN could only be statutory funds, which cannot be attached for payment of judgment sums.
He further averred that in view of the several suits and appeals in the matter, the proceedings were an abuse of the court’s process and amounted to forum shopping.
In his motion, counsel to First Bank, Olanipekun, also asked the court to set aside the temporary garnishee order.
He argued that the court lacks the jurisdiction to hear the case, and therefore asked the court to transfer the case to Abuja or Lagos.
But in his response, Nwosu stated that the Ogoni judgment creditors were entitled to the benefit of their judgment and opposed all motions by the CBN, Shell and First Bank.
After hearing all the parties in the case, Justice Allagoa adjourned the matter to April 11, 2018, for the continuation of hearing.
But in a statement sent to THISDAY yesterday, First Bank’s Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications, Mrs Folake Ani-Mumuney, said her organisation was a responsible law abiding citizen with the capacity and character to meet its obligations as and when due.
She said the events culminating in the issuance of the bank guarantee at the request of Shell and all the lawsuits arising from the case were before the courts.
She expressed confidence that the courts would dispense justice in the cases in line with constitutional obligations.
According to her, “First Bank is a responsible and law abiding corporate citizen with the capacity and character to, on a consistent basis, meet its obligations as and when due.
“The events culminating in First Bank’s issuance of the said bank guarantee at the request of Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited as well as all matters arising therefrom and associated therewith are subject matters of different lawsuits including Suit Nos. FHC/OW/CS/C4/2017, FHC/L/NJR/1/2018 and Appeal Nos. SC/511/2017 and SC/731/2017 which are ongoing.
“We are confident that the various courts will dispense justice in the cases in line with their constitutional obligations.”
Also, a source conversant with the case explained that First Bank’s appeal was still at the Supreme Court and hearing on the case will come up on October 16, 2018.
He said irrespective of the fact that the Supreme Court had not ruled on the case, the counsel to the Ogoni chiefs, Nwosu, has been pushing for First Bank to honour the guarantee.
He said First Bank, however, has maintained that the parties have the right to exhaust their rights in law and that includes going to the Supreme Court.
According to the source, this was another attempt by Nwosu to stampede the bank into paying the N122.53 billion.
Opening up on other tactics employed by the counsel to the Ogoni chiefs to compel First Bank to cough up the sum despite the fact that the matter is still being adjudicated, he said Nwosu had also petitioned the two legislative chambers of the National Assembly.
“Not stopping at that, he has petitioned the central banks of other countries where First Bank has operations; he has initiated winding up proceedings against the bank in Lagos and Abuja which he discontinued; he took an action against First Bank at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt which he abandoned; he obtained the garnishee at the Federal High Court in Owerri seeking to attach First Bank’s funds at the CBN; then last week he filed contempt proceedings against the chairman and managing director of the bank.
“All these he has done irrespective of the case at the Supreme Court. But First Bank, from what I can tell, is confident in the judiciary to do the right thing,” he said.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
In 2025, Access Holdings Plc lowered its operational emissions by 28.47 per cent by growing its green asset portfolio to N92.15 billion, though still far from its N475 billion target.
Details of its 2025 Sustainability Report showed that operational emissions fell to 49,352 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from 57,176 tonnes in 2024, supported primarily by branch solarisation across 263 locations and the deployment of 323 solar-powered ATMs, largely across Access Bank in Nigeria.
The organisation applies the operational-control approach under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, accounting for emissions across its African footprint, with Access Bank representing the largest share.
The report reinforces its strategic shift from scale to value by showing how sustainability is being embedded in capital allocation, risk management, product development and operations.
During the year, Access Holdings deployed N72.3 billion under its Sustainable Finance Framework to eligible environmentally beneficial projects and grew its cumulative sustainability-focused loan book to $1.269 billion.
Beyond environmental outcomes, the report highlights the group’s contribution to inclusive economic participation.
In 2025, Access Holdings extended access to finance to 2,528,117 low-income individuals and onboarded 78,438 new MSMEs onto its financing platform.
Across the institution, 2.8 billion transactions were processed during the year, underscoring its role as core financial infrastructure for Africa’s real
economy. Gender-lens lending also progressed, with 354,156 loans extended to women and women-owned businesses, totalling N67.4 billion, equivalent to 24 per cent of the relevant loan portfolio.
Its Corporate Social Investment programmes reached 2,439,480 beneficiaries across education, health, entrepreneurship and the environment, delivered with partners, including UNICEF, HACEY Health Initiative and the Kenya Forest Service.
Employees recorded 359,500 volunteer hours with 100 per cent participation, while more than 50,000 trees were planted. The group notes that 2025 community figures follow a board-mandated tightening of its impact-measurement methodology and are not directly comparable with prior years. Women represent 49 per cent of the workforce, and the Access Holdings board comprised nine directors with 44.4 per cent female representation. Employee satisfaction rose to 87 per cent against an 80 per cent target, while attrition eased from about 13 per cent to about 11 per cent.
For the second straight year, Access Holdings reported zero material regulatory penalties relating to sustainability and zero cybersecurity breaches.
It mobilised $185.38 million, equivalent to N266.83 billion, in concessional funding from development finance institutions during the year and allocated a sustainability budget of N4.8 billion from profit before tax.
Sales-facing staff in the banking subsidiary carry green-portfolio targets within their individual performance measures, linking strategic sustainability goals to day-to-day execution across governance, strategy, risk management, capital allocation, products and operations.
To strengthen credibility and comparability, the report was prepared using the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, specifically IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, as the primary framework, with the GRI Standards (2021) and the SASB Standards applied as complementary references.
“Our 2025 Sustainability Report reflects the discipline with which we are converting scale into value. We reduced operational emissions by 28.47 per cent,
grew our green asset portfolio to N92.14 billion and extended financial access to about 2.5 million low-income individuals.
“These outcomes show that sustainability is not separate from our business; it is central to how we create value, manage risk and support inclusive growth across Africa,” the chief executive of Access Holdings, Mr Innocent Ike, stated.
Looking ahead, the company promised to deepen the measurable impact of its sustainability agenda, accelerate the transition of its portfolio towards low-carbon and climate-resilient assets, and grow the green asset portfolio towards the N475 billion target.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) says it has paid the insured deposits of about 700,000 customers of the defunct Heritage Bank and has commenced the reimbursement of depositors of 46 microfinance banks (MFBs) whose operating licences were recently revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The chief executive of NDIC, Mr Oludare Sunday, made this known on Wednesday during a retreat for members of the House of Representatives Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters in Lagos.
He said the corporation immediately began settling the insured deposits of customers after the CBN revoked the licences of the 46 microfinance banks and appointed the NDIC as their provisional liquidator.
“We are working on those. The CBN revoked the licences, and we were appointed as the provisional liquidator. We have started paying depositors of those banks, and gradually we intend to cover all the insured depositors,” he said.
Mr Sunday explained that the NDIC’s responsibility extends beyond paying insured deposits to recovering outstanding loans owed to the failed institutions and disposing of their assets to generate funds for the settlement of uninsured depositors.
“Our function as liquidator involves the payment of guaranteed sums. Thereafter, we go after those who owe the institutions and have not paid. We also ensure that we sell the available assets and realise their investments towards paying the uninsured portion of the deposits. So, we have started paying the guaranteed deposits. What we are doing now is also realising the assets of those institutions,” he stated.
Although he declined to disclose the exact number of depositors of the failed microfinance banks who had been reimbursed, Sunday said the Corporation was working with the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) to identify depositors through their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) to ensure seamless payments.
“So, the more accounts we discover, the more payments we make,” he added.
Providing an update on the liquidation of Heritage Bank, the NDIC chief said about 700,000 depositors had already received their insured deposits, while efforts were ongoing to trace other customers whose identities could not be verified from available records.
He attributed the challenge to legacy accounts created before the introduction of the BVN system, as well as incomplete customer records inherited from banks that were later merged into Heritage Bank.
“If you know Heritage Bank, you know it is an amalgamation of several banks, including the acquisition of Enterprise Bank in 2014. So, if you think of banks like Guardian Express and Spring Bank, they are all part of Heritage Bank.
“There are depositors we have not been able to trace, and this is an opportunity for them to come forward. I am sure many of us did the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and may have left some money in an account, but there was no BVN then.
“Even the addresses we had were sometimes things like ‘opposite filling station.’ How do you trace such a person? Once they come forward, and for those we have been able to identify from the institution’s database, we have been paying them,” he explained.
Mr Sunday added that the Corporation would continue to recover outstanding loans and dispose of Heritage Bank’s assets to generate funds for the payment of liquidation dividends to depositors whose balances exceeded the insured limit.
Earlier in his remarks, he described the NDIC as a critical pillar of Nigeria’s financial safety net, stressing the need for stronger collaboration between regulators and the National Assembly as the banking sector responds to recapitalisation efforts and rapid financial technology developments.
According to him, while the ongoing banking recapitalisation programme has strengthened the resilience of financial institutions, it must be complemented by sound corporate governance, effective risk management, strict regulatory compliance and robust supervision to safeguard long-term financial system stability.
He also disclosed that more than 98 per cent of depositors, representing over 281 million accounts across insured financial institutions, are fully protected under the NDIC’s deposit insurance scheme.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Zenith Bank Plc is investigating an incident involving unauthorised access to customers’ data, noting that the breach does not involve financial information and has not compromised its banking services or digital channels.
In an email sent to customers on Wednesday, the bank stated that the incident was part of a broader global cyberattack affecting multiple international organisations across various sectors.
The lender stated that it immediately activated its incident response protocols and intensified its cybersecurity and remediation efforts upon discovering the incident.
“This incident is part of a broader, global cyber-attack targeting multiple international organisations across various sectors. Upon discovery, we promptly activated our incident response protocols, cybersecurity actions and remediation efforts,” the bank said.
The bank reassured customers that its banking services and digital channels remain secure and fully operational.
As a precautionary measure, Zenith Bank advised customers to remain alert to potential phishing attempts and other forms of social engineering.
“As a precaution, we encourage our customers to remain vigilant against phishing emails, text messages, or phone calls, and never to disclose their password, PIN, One-Time Password (OTP), or other security credentials to anyone,” the bank said.
The incident is the latest in a series of cybersecurity challenges facing Nigerian financial institutions, with banks in recent months suspending their social media operations over impersonation and other fraudulent activities.
Earlier in April, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) said it was investigating alleged data breaches involving Sterling Bank, Remita and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Nigerian banks have long been prime targets for cybercriminals because of the vast amounts of customer data and financial transactions they handle every day.
While many attacks have traditionally sought to steal funds, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting personal information, which can be used for identity theft, phishing schemes, account takeovers and other forms of financial fraud.
Cybersecurity threats have increasingly targeted Nigerian banks in recent years. In 2025, Union Bank of Nigeria warned customers about fraudulent websites and phishing campaigns designed to steal login credentials and personal information by impersonating the bank.
In August 2024, Guaranty Trust Bank experienced a domain-related security incident that temporarily disrupted access to its official website, although the lender assured customers that their deposits and banking services remained secure while it resolved the issue.
