Banking
How Tokunbo Abiru Transformed Polaris Bank in Nearly Two Years
There are bankers and there are bankers, but the group managing director and chief executive officer of Polaris Bank Limited, Mr Adetokunbo Mukhail Abiru, is arguably one of the most successful bankers Nigeria has produced in recent times.
Mr Abiru is a rare breed. We are familiar with individuals who take over bourgeoning establishments and further increase their worth on face value along the line. But it sounds like a fairy tale to have a professional who takes over a near-comatose organization and almost makes a corporate giant out of it. This has been the lot of the former Skye Bank Plc, now rechristened Polaris Bank Limited.
In just a little time after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON took over Skye Bank and renamed it Polaris Bank which saw the emergence of Mr Abiru as its managing director cum chief executive officer, Polaris Bank’s narrative changed to a financial institution to reckon with.
Recall that on July 4, 2016, the Central Bank of Nigeria intervened in the management of the Skye Bank Plc by reconstituting the board of directors, shoring up the bank with N100 billion capital injection. The regulatory action on the bank led to the resignation of its chairman, all non-executive directors on the board, as well as the managing director, deputy managing director, and the two longest-serving executive directors on the management team.
Two years down the line, (precisely, September 22, 2018), the CBN again intervened in the ailing Skye Bank and the operating licence of the bank was revoked to give way to Polaris Bank Limited, a bridge bank former created in consultation with the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) to assume the ownership of the assets, all deposit liabilities and some other liabilities of distressed and defunct Skye Bank. The bank’s share capital had run into negative territory due to bad loan deals. It was also in urgent need of recapitalisation which its shareholders could not enable.
Accordingly, the apex bank gave the board a clear mandate to turn the institution around positively. Expectedly, the Tokunbo Abiru-led team has not disappointed.
Under his leadership, the bank has witnessed significant transformation in market competitiveness. The financial institution has roared into the limelight, with the many brilliant strides and policies executed since he took over.
He is easily one of the best banking brains and business leaders on the continent – evident in his immense contribution to the African banking industry. Mr Abiru’s story is a remarkable one and his journey up to this point is enough blue print for anyone looking to achieve success in their path.
This is a man who has used his Midas touch to turn things around for the financial institution within a very short space of time.
On assumption of office in 2016, Mr Abiru drew up a holistic and integrated approach to business modernization which elevated the bank to deliver a superior customer-centric experience. The impact of this change has been reflecting positively on the bank’s report card, which restored customers’ trust and confidence in the system.
Since becoming the managing director of the lender, the game-changer has spearheaded several growth initiatives which have placed the bank on upward trajectory. The Abiru-led Polaris team has continued to implement the July 2016 regulatory intervention to include entrenching sound corporate governance and risk management practices and transforming Polaris into fully fledged retail and commercial bank with strong digital backing.
The miraculous transformation experienced by Polaris Bank which was almost a dying entity a few years ago is a testimony of the leadership and managerial qualities of Mr Abiru.
The bank has invested significantly in technology with copiously integrated service models enabling customers enjoy banking services through a wide range of channels.
Today, Polaris Bank can boast of a strong market share going by several transformative business initiatives.
Mr Abiru has successfully implemented cost management initiatives which have enhanced liquidity and efficient service delivery to the bank’s customers.
Through his aggressive recovery initiatives, the bank has been able to recover over N200 billion of outstanding bad loans within a shortest period.
Under his watch, the bank has been able to reach settlement and restructuring agreements with many of the chronic bad debtors resulting in substantially improved payments and prospects of future recoveries.
In line with the bank’s broad mandate which includes cost management and optimisation, as well as divestments to improve the institution’s financial position, Mr Tokunbo Abiru has embarked on several initiatives aimed at restructuring and repositioning the bank.
Some of the initiatives embarked upon by Mr Abiru include: branch rationalisation, review of service contracts and cash management operations which have resulted in hundreds of millions of financial savings. Also, through some of the initiatives, the bank has successfully settled many matured trade and bilateral obligations and restructured outstanding balances with the relevant institutions and counterparties.
Under Mr Abiru’s watch, the bank has divested from four local subsidiaries releasing total cash value of N6.2 billion.
Mr Abiru is also known for his no-nonsense approach to service delivery which keeps members of staff on their toes always, but doesn’t hesitate in wielding the big stick when necessary in order to achieve the desired growth goals of the brand, while rewarding outstanding members of staff.
Polaris Bank under Abiru has also continued to promote the CBN’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy aimed at reducing the number of eligible adult Nigerians that are excluded from the formal financial system from 46.3 per cent to 20 per cent by the year 2020. The lender has been remarkable, strutting the length and breadth of Nigeria to promote financial inclusion.
Polaris Bank has also made available different credit and funding options to small scale entrepreneurs and business owners, operating in the informal sector, in order to bring them into mainstream financial system.
The bank has also employed interactive financial literacy sessions as a platform to empower students with money management skills in schools across the country. So far, the bank has organised interactive sessions on financial literacy in schools across seven states namely; Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Oyo, Bauchi and Benue. The sessions were facilitated by 155 employees of the bank led by the managing director/CEO. At Offot Ukwa Secondary School, Calabar, Cross River State and four other schools in Akwa Ibom State namely; Uyo High School, Bright Future International School, Nigerian Christian Institute and Redemption Academy, the students took lessons on managing and saving money.
To underscore the importance of the initiative, Abiru taught the students ways to be thrifty and start saving for the future, urging them not to spend all monetary gifts they get buying things, but rather learn to keep a part of it in the bank and watch it grow.
Overall, about 6,000 students have benefited from the training.
Similarly, in its bid to ease access to banking services and to reach the unbanked, Polaris Bank recently entered into a strategic partnership with the Niger State government by ensuring participants in the supply value chain of the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) open bank accounts with less hassle.
The NHGSFP is an initiative of the Federal Government designed as a deliberate act to encourage mass education among the underprivileged and the most vulnerable.
Since the feeding programme commenced in 2016, over 7,500 people across supply value chain had been engaged in Niger State while Polaris Bank has opened bank accounts for 1,500 cooks.
The bank has also launched its revamped mobile banking application upgraded with new and exciting user-friendly features for a more convenient banking experience. Customers can now enjoy many benefits and access self-service options, such as, easy account opening, convenient self- booking and liquidation of fixed deposits, an expanded list of bill-payment options and easy activation of standing instructions & recurrent future payments.
These and many other moves leveraging technology and building a culture of innovation is fast repositioning the bank.
Today, Polaris Bank’s branches are fast becoming a hub for transactional activities witnessing a huge footfall of customers trooping in to carry out transactions, open bank accounts and experience the innovative trends that the bank has introduced to its business. This overall experience has also been boosted by the enhancement of staff morale which inherently drives the commitment to serve their customers better.
Not resting on his oars, the seasoned banker has said that he would love to leave with a sense of satisfaction that he delivered on the mandate the CBN by taking Polaris to the top.
Abiru, is an alumnus of Harvard Business School (Advanced Management Programme) and Lagos Business School (Senior Management Programme). He holds a B.Sc. (Economics) from Lagos State University and is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and an Honorary Senior Member of The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).
The seasoned banker has had a distinguished career in banking spanning about 30 years, ten of which were spent in the formative years of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. He thereafter spent about 14 years with First Bank of Nigeria Limited, where he functioned as executive director, Corporate Banking between 2013 and 2016.
During his banking career, he was at various times between 2013 and 2016 a non–executive director in the following companies: Airtel Mobile Networks Limited; FBN Capital Limited (now FBN Merchant Bank Limited); and FBN Bank Limited, Sierra Leone.
While serving as the Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State, it is to Tokunbo Abiru’s credit that the state successfully floated an N80 billion bond, earning it the EMEA Finance’s Best Local Currency Bond Award for 2012. Under his leadership, Mr. Abiru made the state’s tax efforts yield maximum results; and the discovery of over 5.5 million tax evaders in 2013 opened up the discussion regarding taxation in Lagos State. Mr. Abiru’s efforts also led to increased Land Use Charge revenue generations to the tune of N6.2 billion.
Financial experts believe the sky is the limit for Tokunbo Abiru at Polaris Bank. One of them, Tunji Omotosho said: “His achievements are eye-catching and enviable in all ramifications. He has set a pedestal for aspiring financial managers to want to beat, but it is difficult to reach it, let alone beat it.
“Tokunbo is definitely a rare gift to the financial sector, and a miracle to the country’s development goals. A lot of us are learning so much from his experiences and how he manages them successfully.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The chairman of First HoldCo Plc, Mr Femi Otedola, has affirmed plans to increase his 26 per cent holding in the organisation to 51 per cent, confirming a planned takeover of Nigeria’s oldest banking institution.
Mr Otedola spoke in an exclusive interview with Nairametrics published on Monday, giving a rare direction following recent speculations about the financial institution.
The milestone followed a series of share acquisitions, as Mr Otedola sought to tighten his grip as the company’s largest shareholder following the recent acquisition of additional shares worth N222.21 billion.
In the interview, the mogul said he has invested more than N600 billion of his personal wealth in First HoldCo, describing the move as a “long-term generational commitment” rather than another turnaround investment he would eventually exit.
Responding to speculation that he intends to consolidate his position in the group, Mr Otedola hinted that his investment journey is far from over.
“My investment threshold is always over and above 51 per cent,” he said. “One of my key investment principles is that firm shareholder control, with due regard for minority interest, is a key ingredient to executing reforms and restructuring to deliver value to all stakeholders.”
The businessman said the same strategy had guided his investments in African Petroleum Plc, later renamed Forte Oil Plc, where he gradually increased his shareholding from 28 per cent to 75 per cent before exiting the company in 2019.
He said he also increased his stake in Geregu Power Plc from 51 per cent to 95 per cent before reducing it to 77 per cent after the company’s public listing.
“I am on the same trajectory with First HoldCo Plc,” Mr Otedola said.
“To date, I have invested over N600 billion of my personal wealth in First HoldCo Plc — a figure that speaks not to speculation, but to unflinching confidence in the institution’s future, fundamentals and an unwavering personal commitment to its success.”
Mr Otedola said his decision to invest in First HoldCo came at a time when the institution was facing one of the most challenging periods in its history.
The billionaire steadily increased his investment in the group, accelerating his share purchases in 2026. His stake grew from 6.68 billion shares (15.95 per cent) in June 2025 to 8.06 billion shares by March 2026, then to 9.28 billion shares by June after acquiring about 1.22 billion shares in one quarter. A further purchase through Calvados Global Services last month lifted his holdings above 10 billion shares for the first time.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Nine persons linked to one of Nigeria’s biggest indigenous steel-and-manufacturing conglomerates, Western Metal Products Company (WEMPCO) Limited, could land in prison for allegedly defying an order of a Federal High Court protecting United Bank for Africa’s claim and disrupting the operations of a court-appointed receiver manager.
Justice Akintayo Aluko of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos issued a stern Form 48 (Notice of Consequence of Disobedience to Order of Court), warning key directors and shareholders—including Lewis Shui Ngor Tung, Phillip Shui Che Tung, Robert Tung, Lawrence Tung, Taiwo Alli and others—that they face possible imprisonment for contempt of court after allegedly interfering with the Receiver/Manager appointed by UBA to take over key collateral assets.
The Form 48 notice, a formal warning under Nigerian civil procedure that precedes imprisonment for contempt, was published as a legal notice after personal service could evidently not be completed on the individuals, all listed at the same address: 18 Wempco Road, Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos (Federal High Court of Nigeria, Suit No. FHC/L/CS/555/26).
UBA is aggressively pursuing the recovery of syndicated and direct loan facilities amounting to about N61.5 billion (approximately $39 million) from WEMPCO and 16 related corporate entities.
Justice Aluko has already granted an Order of Mareva Injunctions freezing accounts belonging to the WEMPCO group across 27 commercial banks and fintechs.
According to MoneyCentral, UBA wants to recover the funds from 17 companies in the WEMPCO stable, from flagship Western Metal Products Company Limited down to Nigerian Enamelware Company Plc, Lagos Oriental Hotel Limited and Prime Nigeria Wood Products Co. Ltd. It disbursed the money to the firms under a Multicurrency Multiple Credit Facility Agreement dated September 30, 2019.
On April 2, 2026, the court granted UBA an interim Mareva injunction freezing up to N61.5 billion in WEMPCO-linked funds across 27 banks and fintech platforms, appointed a receiver-manager over WEMPCO’s unencumbered assets, and ordered the financial institutions to disclose any WEMPCO funds in their custody.
Anatomy of the Freeze
By the Order of April 2, 2026, Justice Aluko granted UBA ‘s Application filed on March 31, 2026. The Orders made were:
- Broad Asset Freeze (Mareva Injunction): The court restrained WEMPCO and 16 sister companies from operating accounts or transferring funds up to N61.5 billion. All 27 financial institution respondents—ranging from tier-1 banks to modern fintech processors like Moniepoint, OPay, and Kuda—must disclose and hold any balance standing to the credit of the defendants.
- Receiver/Manager Appointment: One Romeo Ese Michael, Esq., was appointed Receiver/Manager over WEMPCO’s assets not under the Multicurrency Multiple Credit Facility Agreement. This includes physical asset takeovers, such as two major Wärtsilä power generators.
Nine Names, One Address
The Form 48 lists nine individuals “to be committed” to prison for contempt, namely Lewis Shui Ngor Tung, Phillip Shui Che Tung, M.A. Ola Yusuf (Alh), Tung Lawrence Blake, Alli Aare Hadji Tokunbo, Paul Shui Po Tung, Tung Robert, Cl Ip, and Taiwo Alli.
Two names are independently identifiable in WEMPCO’s public corporate filings: Taiwo Alli is the sitting Managing Director/CEO of NGX-listed Nigerian Enamelware Company Plc — one of the 17 corporate defendants — while Robert Tung sits on that same board as a non-executive director and is one of the two brothers who built WEMPCO into its current scale.
That a sitting MD of a publicly listed Nigerian company now faces a documented risk of committal to prison over a corporate group’s unpaid debt underscores the reputational and governance stakes for WEMPCO’s listed arm, quite apart from the group’s privately held entities.
The Receiver and the 2019 Facility
The receiver-manager order points to the roots of the dispute: A Multicurrency Multiple Credit Facility Agreement dated 30 September 2019, under which UBA financed part of WEMPCO’s industrial build-out — the same period in which the group was completing major steel and power infrastructure investments.
The court’s specific mention of “two Wärtsilä engines (generators)… wherever they may be found” as receivership targets signals that WEMPCO’s captive power assets — critical to running energy-intensive steel and ceramics plants — are now squarely within the bank’s reach for recovery.
The Rise and Fall of WEMPCO Group
Few Nigerian conglomerates have as large a footprint with as little public profile as WEMPCO. The group was founded by the late Mr K.F. Tung, a Chinese-born entrepreneur who first visited Nigeria in 1967 and built an enamelware business before expanding into steel, ceramics, timber, agriculture and hospitality; he died in March 2019 at age 97, having led the group for more than five decades.
His sons, Lewis Tung and Robert Tung, subsequently took the business forward, growing it into one of Nigeria’s largest manufacturing employers, with more than 12,000-13,000 workers across 11-plus subsidiaries.
At its peak, WEMPCO was one of Nigeria’s largest diversified conglomerates, operating massive cold-rolled steel mills, enamelware plants, ceramic tile factories, nail production plants, and agricultural investments across Lagos and Ogun states.
The group owns high-profile real estate assets, including the 5-star Lagos Oriental Hotel on Victoria Island/Lekki, alongside industrial facilities spanning over 700,000 metric tonnes of steel capacity.
Over the past decade, however, severe foreign exchange shortages, cheap imported/smuggled alternatives, high energy overheads, tax defaults, and shifting government trade policies caused deep operational paralysis across WEMPCO’s 11+ subsidiaries.
As revenue collapsed, debt loads surged into hundreds of billions of Naira across the Nigerian financial sector, culminating in UBA’s enforcement actions to protect its balance sheet.
That scale is precisely why the case matters beyond the courtroom: WEMPCO is not a marginal borrower, but one of Nigeria’s largest indigenous industrial employers, and the outcome of this dispute carries direct implications for thousands of manufacturing jobs concentrated in Ogba and Ogun State.
Why This Matters: Depositor Money Is Not Free Money
The scale of UBA’s claim — N61.5 billion frozen pending trial, against a backdrop of a 2019 multicurrency facility likely running into the hundreds of billions of naira in total exposure across WEMPCO’s group structure — is a reminder of a basic truth in banking that is easy to lose sight of in a contentious court fight: the money banks lend to conglomerates like WEMPCO is not the bank’s own capital sitting idle.
It is depositors’ money — the savings of ordinary Nigerians, the working capital of small businesses, and the pension and insurance assets pooled through the banking system — recycled into loans that the bank is obligated to repay to its depositors whether or not the borrower repays the bank.
This is not an abstract concern in Nigeria’s current banking environment. The industry’s non-performing loans (NPL) ratio climbed to 8.03 per cent in January 2026 and to 9.85 per cent by February 2026, well above the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 5 per cent prudential threshold, after the CBN withdrew pandemic-era regulatory forbearance that had allowed banks to avoid classifying restructured loans as impaired.
Fitch Ratings has projected the ratio could fall back toward 5 per cent by year-end 2026, helped by fresh bank capital raised to meet the CBN’s new minimum capital requirements and by write-offs — but only if recoveries like UBA’s WEMPCO action succeed in converting non-performing exposures back into cash.
The CBN itself has warned that a stubborn rise in bad loans “could impair asset quality and weaken banks’ balance sheets,” posing systemic risk, and has pushed banks to deepen use of the Global Standing Instruction framework — precisely the kind of cross-bank fund-tracing mechanism reflected in UBA’s 27-institution Mareva order against WEMPCO — to improve recovery discipline.
Every naira UBA cannot recover from a defaulting borrower is a naira the bank must provision for out of its own capital and earnings — capital that could otherwise support new lending to other Nigerian businesses, or income that could otherwise be paid out as dividends to millions of Nigerian shareholders and pensioners with holdings in UBA stock.
Aggressive but lawful recovery action of the kind on display in the WEMPCO case is, in that sense, not simply a bank protecting its own balance sheet; it is a bank protecting the deposit base and credit capacity of the wider financial system.
Corporate Responsibility and the Nigerian Economy
Firms of WEMPCO’s scale carry an obligation that runs in both directions. On one hand, WEMPCO’s decades of investment in steel, enamelware, ceramics, wood products and hospitality have made it a genuine contributor to Nigeria’s industrial base and a major direct employer, with the group’s own account of its history stressing that it has “contributed immensely to the economy of Nigeria in particular and West Africa in general”.
On the other hand, that same scale means WEMPCO’s credit obligations were sized accordingly — a multicurrency, multi-billion-naira facility syndicated in 2019 — and the responsibility to service such facilities is inseparable from the privilege of accessing that scale of capital in the first place.
When large borrowers fall behind and resist enforcement, as UBA alleges is happening here, the costs are not confined to the bank’s shareholders.
Delayed recoveries constrain the credit banks can extend to other manufacturers, exporters and small businesses; they can pressure a bank’s capital adequacy ratios and, in aggregate across the industry, contribute to the kind of system-wide NPL pressure the CBN has flagged as a threat to financial stability.
Conversely, orderly and timely repayment — even when it requires restructuring or receivership rather than immediate cash settlement — protects the thousands of workers whose jobs depend on WEMPCO’s continued operation, preserves the bank’s capacity to keep lending into the real economy, and reinforces credit discipline across a banking sector the CBN is actively trying to strengthen after the post-forbearance clean-up.
It is worth noting that the reliefs UBA has obtained so far are interim measures granted pending a full hearing on the Motion on Notice, and that WEMPCO’s companies and the named individuals retain the right to contest the underlying claims in court.
The Bottom Line
UBA’s push to freeze N61.5 billion in WEMPCO-linked funds, install a receiver-manager over the group’s flagship steel unit, and now pursue contempt proceedings against nine individuals tied to the conglomerate marks one of the more aggressive corporate debt-recovery actions in Nigeria’s banking sector this year.
For a bank operating in an industry still working through the aftershocks of the CBN’s forbearance withdrawal and a near-10 per cent sector NPL ratio, recovering large legacy exposures is not optional housekeeping; it is central to protecting depositor funds, sustaining lending capacity and keeping Nigeria’s banking system stable.
The court’s enforcement action in UBA vs. WEMPCO marks a decisive moment for credit governance in Nigeria. With 27 financial institutions bound by court injunctions and corporate officers facing criminal contempt, UBA’s Receiver/Manager is positioned to realise underlying assets. Analysts say the outcome of this case will set a precedent for corporate debt resolution, financial system accountability, and the rule of law across Nigeria’s industrial landscape.
By Adedapo Adesanya
First Holdco Plc has commenced a public offer to raise about N1.4 trillion (approximately $1 billion) after securing approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The offer, which opened on Monday, involves the sale of 10.4 billion ordinary shares, according to the chief executive of its banking subsidiary, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mr Olusegun Alebiosu.
The capital raise follows the company’s earlier plan to transfer about a quarter of its shares to RC Investment Management Ltd., which served as a bridge holder after Barbican Capital Limited exited its investment in the lender amid a prolonged ownership and leadership dispute.
First Holdco had previously indicated that the shares would eventually be offered to the investing public once the necessary regulatory approvals were obtained.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Mr Alebiosu said proceeds from the offer would strengthen the capital base of First Bank and support the holding company’s expansion strategy.
According to him, the group intends to diversify beyond banking by establishing an insurance underwriting business and a fintech services company.
“The sale is starting today — the reality here is that I am not sure it will stay more than one week based on the pressure we are getting,” Mr Alebiosu said, expressing confidence in strong investor demand.
Investors appeared to respond positively to the announcement, with First HoldCo’s shares climbing as much as 5.9 per cent to a record high during trading on Monday before easing to a 3.1 per cent gain at N133.60 by early afternoon in Lagos.
The lender has been one of the best-performing banking stocks on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited over the past year, with its share price rising more than fourfold since July 2025, when Barbican Capital’s stake was transferred to RC Investment Management.
The fresh capital injection comes as its largest shareholder, Mr Femi Otedola, continues to strengthen his stake in Nigeria’s oldest bank. With the billionaire holding around a 26 per cent stake in the company, analysts say he has his eyes set on full control once his equity crosses the 30 per cent mark.
