Banking
Ogun Civil Servants to Get Mortgage Financing from Ecobank
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Civil servants in Ogun State who are allottees of the state’s housing scheme will enjoy mortgage financing from Ecobank Nigeria, the financial institution has said in a statement.
This followed the partnership entered into between the lender and the state government, according to the disclosure made available to Business Post.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both parties, the allottee must have been in continuous employment with the state government for at least 36 months prior to the application for the facility, while Ecobank is expected to review and approve loan applications based on the agreed terms.
Under the housing scheme, the Ogun State government has developed an acquisition arrangement to build and allocate houses to senior civil servants to be purchased through instalment within a defined period of time.
With this partnership, Ecobank is to provide a mortgage finance facility to interested and qualified beneficiaries that meet the bank’s credit risk acceptance criteria and other conditions.
A senior official of the company, Mr Victor Yalokwu, disclosed that the bank was committed to deploying its pedigree in mortgage financing and other loans solutions to support the allottees of the houses.
He disclosed that necessary structure and conditions have been put in place to ensure a seamless and stress-free exercise, noting that the Bank will diligently perform its obligations to meet the expectations of both the state government and beneficiaries of the housing scheme.
“Ecobank will work with the allottees, provide adequate guidance where required, review the loan applications in line with the Bank’s acceptance criteria and disburse funds for consummated transactions,” he stated.
In his comment, the Ogun State Commissioner of Housing, Mr Jagunmolu Akande Omoniyi said the decision of the government to partner with Ecobank on the project was informed by the bank’s expertise in mortgage financing, stressing that the state government has implicit confidence in the bank’s ability to deliver on target.
He pointed out that the construction of low-cost mass houses in the state is targeted at providing decent, quality, and affordable housing to civil servants, adding that many housing projects are currently being constructed by the Ministry of Housing and the Ogun State Property Investments Company (OPIC) as part of the state’s blueprint on purposeful governance and robust development blueprint summarized in a mantra Building our Future together.
According to him, “This housing scheme is part of the present administration under Mr Dapo Abiodun plan to build a total of 2,500 housing units in his first 4 years in office as contained in a mantra Building our Future together.
“The housing projects include 130 housing units in Prince Courts Estate at Kemta-Idi Aba Abeokuta as the first phase of the 300 detached and semi-detached two- and three-bedroom apartments.
“The second phase was the recently completed Kobape Housing estate located on Abeokuta – Sagamu road. This is made up of one, two- and three-bedroom houses numbering over 200.
“The Governor also reiterated commitment to open up new phases as the new train would soon berth at Sagamu in Ogun East with 200 housing, Ota, Ogun West with 100 units in the third phase of the houses promised to be delivered before the end of the first term of the government.”
He added that the Governor was poised and committed to providing affordable houses for all in the state to make the state more attractive and cater for the influx of people into the state due to rapid development.
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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