Banking
Union Bank, NIRSAL Launch N10b Finance Package
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A N10 billion financial scheme to assist farmers and agro-based companies in the country have access to funds to grow their businesses has been launched by Union Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).
At the launch of the scheme last Friday, Group Managing Director of Union Bank Plc, Mr Emeka Emuwa, explained that the participation of NIRSAL in the agriculture business was a soothing development because, in the past, lending to the sector was a tortuous experience since banks could not effectively monitor farmers’ investments and gauge the risks.
“You could not see what you were investing in and it made funding the greatest challenge of the agricultural sector in Nigeria.
“Banks were reluctant to invest in the sector. But now, NIRSAL has come to shine more light on it. Commercial banks and NIRSAL have roles in the agriculture value chain and that sector holds the highest percentage of Africa’s labour force at 65 percent.
“In Nigeria, agriculture holds 50 percent of the employment. It was responsible for 24 per cent of all contributions to our GDP in 2016.
“That means it’s a major plank of in the success of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). To fully diversify our economy, agriculture must play a vital role.
“Our focus is market expansion and to help curb post-harvest losses. We also want to support small holder farmers to access needed markets. We’ve 180 million people in Nigeria. We have to create opportunities to feed ourselves,” Mr Emuwa explained.
On his part, Managing Director of NIRSAL, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed, noted that the deal will create massive employment, guarantee food security and generate foreign exchange via exports.
He said various arms of agriculture provide excellent investment opportunities for the government, individuals and corporate bodies.
“There are several agriculture value chains that this N10 billion can make flourish. We can acquire 830 brand new tractors, generate 330,000 direct jobs and 1.5 million indirect jobs and cultivate 300,000 hectares of land.
“We have 10 categories of agriculture that includes have ruminants farming, export crops, plantations like cocoa and rubber, poultry, etc. We have 30 commodities in all.
“Our role in NIRSAL is to de-risk the entire transaction and ensure those enjoying the loan from Union Bank have the capacity to pay back. We look at various factors before giving out the loan.
“More financing will come and this launch is part of NIRSAL’s mandate to make banks put more money into agriculture. We have implemented risk management framework in the agriculture value chain.
“We have risk management tools and we keep our eyes on all the projects to ensure success. That is a huge off the backs of the banks.
“The Union Bank’s N10 billion loan will benefit agriculture mechanisation, primary production, input supply, logistics, processing, storage and post storage handling,” Mr Abdulhameed stated.
Managing Director of Development of Nigeria (DBN), Mr Tony Okpanachi, who was also at the event, described the deal as vital.
“When we say we are diversifying the economy, it simply means increasing the contributions of agriculture to the economy. And by that, it means increase the funding of agriculture. “DBN is a wholesale bank.
“We’ve been planning on how to impact the agricultural sector. We will work with NIRSAL and provide funding. We need to bring more financial institutions onboard,” Mr Okpanachi said.
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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