Feature/OPED
2022: What is Your Video Marketing Plan?
By Kenneth Horsfall
In case you don’t know, the world of marketing is changing rapidly and video has become the new thing. In Nigeria alone, digital video marketing is a $135 billion industry. That means brands everywhere are realizing the value of video and investing in its creation and distribution. So why! Are you not doing the same?
Getting Started with Video Marketing
To get started let start with what is video marketing? Video marketing is the production of engaging videos around a marketing strategy that delivers business results. Whether you’ve just stepped onto the scene, or you’ve been using videos for ages, you need a road map outlining what it’s all for, where you’re going, and how you’ll measure success.
Your video marketing plan is every bit as important as execution.
A solid plan can be the difference between knowing how much return on investment (ROI) your content is delivering and throwing metaphorical spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.
Do you know that nowadays, brands can no longer get by using written content and images alone — that’s uninteresting and unengaging for consumers who are inundated with live streaming, interactive 360 videos, augmented reality, and more? And because of this growth, you’re now behind if you aren’t releasing branded video content regularly. But if you’ve never created a video for yourself, getting started can be tough. That’s where I come in! With this guide I have created for you, you’ll learn the ins and outs of video marketing, from figuring out which type of video you need to how to distribute it for maximum results. Start browsing below to learn everything you need to get started with video marketing.
How Do I Create a Video Marketing Strategy?
What Kind of Video Should I Create?
What Are the Three Stages of Video Production?
How Does Video Improve My SEO?
How Do I Distribute My Video?
How Do I Know If My Video Is Successful?
How Do I Create a Video Marketing Strategy?
Video marketing strategies are nothing new. Just like you wouldn’t create a commercial and buy airtime during the Super Bowl without researching and strategizing, you shouldn’t create a digital marketing video without first doing the proper research and creating a plan.
Your video marketing strategy will ultimately be what guides you — your budget, your timelines, your production processes, your conversion metrics, and more. So, getting this written down and finalized should be step one of your video creation processes.
Before we dive into the specifics, here’s an overview of the steps
- Define Your Video Marketing Goals
- Create a Video Marketing Strategy Mission Statement
- Research Your Target Audience for Video
- Decide What Kind of Videos You’ll Make
- Set a Video Budget
- Establish Who’s Responsible for Video Creation
- Think About Your Video Campaign Strategy
- Figure Out Where Video Content Will Live
- Measure Your Performance
1. Define Your Video Marketing Goals
In order to know whether you’ve actually achieved what you’ve set out to accomplish with your video marketing strategy, you need to set measurable goals.
Content intelligence platform Conductor recommends defining marketing goals for both revenue and your brand.
Revenue-based goals focus on things like increasing lead form inquiries while brand goals involve things like growing a higher quality email list, driving more blog traffic, or capturing Google answer boxes for targeted keywords.
Brand goals can be just as important as revenue ones because they help position you for future success and often take into account qualitative feedback.
Some common video goals include:
Brand Awareness—typically measured using brand recall and recognition, frequency/quality of mentions, or video views
Demand Generation and Conversion—typically measured by lead count, impact on conversion rate, or influence on sales opportunity and pipeline generation
Viewer Engagement—typically measured by average engagement (also known as the average length of time viewers watched the video)
How to Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals
As with any kind of marketing goal, following the S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting framework is a good place to start.
Specific
The goal should zero in on a specific aspect of your strategy. After all, saying you want to get more views is great, but what does it actually mean?
Measurable
The goal should be accompanied by a relevant key performance indicator (KPI) and metrics that can be used to measure its success.
Attainable
The goal should be something that’s within reach of your department without “sandbagging” (deliberately setting a goal that isn’t a challenge for the team to reach). Try starting with a baseline and determining the desired increase (or decrease, as the case may be) from there.
Relevant
The goal should be relevant to your overall business objectives AND a good fit for the types of objectives that video is best suited to meet
Time-Bound
The goal should have a timeframe in which it can reasonably be achieved so that you can accurately measure how effective your efforts have been. While some goals can be tackled in a quarter or two, others may require a longer timeframe, like a year. Go one step further by breaking down your overall goal into weekly targets. That way you know what you need to be doing, every step of the way.
An example of a S.M.A.R.T. video marketing goal—one that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound—might look like this:
We will increase time on page for key pages on our website by 15% this quarter by embedding relevant videos.
2. Create a Video Marketing Strategy Mission Statement
Joe Pulizzi, Founder of the Content Marketing Institute, recommends you start your content marketing strategy with a mission statement. It’s helpful to have one of these for your video strategy too because it gives your team an easy-to-remember purpose to rally around.
Your mission should be a simple, one-line statement that answers the following questions:
What type of video content do you plan to make?
Whether you’re leaning towards educational, entertaining, or a mix, your brand’s expertise and audience needs should determine your approach here.
Who are you making this content for?
Outline your target demographic with as much detail as you can. You can’t create great videos without determining the buyer personas you want to appeal to and their pain points.
What should your audience take away from your videos?
Think about what value your content will add and what tasks or goals it will help your audience accomplish.
In order to justify creating different types of videos (including some that may not be directly related to your product), your business needs to understand why you’re creating video stories, who you want watching your content, and what you’re trying to accomplish.
Your video marketing mission statement should look something like this:
“At (company name), we make (type) video content for (specific buyer personas), so that they (exactly what you want them to do).”
3. Research Your Target Audience for Video
To be successful with video, you first need to know who you actually want watching your content. Defining a target audience—and learning about what they like, what they need, what their pain points are—will help you create video content that connects.
Many marketers seem to share the misconception that if they create a video that doesn’t rake in millions of views, they’ve failed in a major way. Fortunately, this is far from the truth.
While a broad reach can be desirable for B2C companies, things are a bit different in the B2B space. No matter what industry you’re in, recognize that your objectives will differ.
B2B brands often have a harder time developing videos for widespread reach, but don’t get discouraged. Not everyone needs your product or service; that’s why it’s important to attract and maintain the leads worth following up with.
When it comes to your target audience, the more specific the better. It’s okay if your content isn’t interesting to anyone outside of that group; you’re aiming to help viewers self-qualify.
Start by looking at the buyer, customer, and/or user personas your company already has. Research what their video preferences are: Is it a good medium for reaching them? If so, what types of videos work best? Build a profile of your video audience from there.
If you don’t already have personas, now’s the time to create some. Use whatever sources of information are available to you to learn about the people you’re trying to connect with. Include anything about your persona that’s pertinent to your content creation, such as how they learn, what kind of content they prefer to consume, and more.
For a deep dive into other information, you could include, check out HubSpot’s guide to creating buyer personas.
Next, map the buyer’s journey for your product or service so you can identify points where video content can help potential customers move along the path to purchase (and what type of video is best suited for the task at hand).
Think about what different kinds of content might address your personas’ questions at different stages of the buying process. For instance, the video that introduces a persona to your company will be different from the one they’ll need when they’re in consideration mode.
As you move forward with creating new videos, ask yourself every time which persona the content speaks to and at what point in the customer journey.
4. Decide What Kind of Videos You’ll Make
Before you dive in and start filming, you need to figure out what kinds of videos you’re going to make.
Think about what story you want to tell, how you can best do that through video, what video styles and types are best suited to sharing that story, what kinds of videos your target audience likes, and more.
It’s important to consider where the video will fit into your organization’s customer journey and marketing funnel (or flywheel). Remember that your audience will likely need different video types and messages at different points in their journey.
When you’re first getting started, choose a few styles and types of videos to test and see what works and what doesn’t. Depending on the stage of the funnel or flywheel, this may constitute what gets the most reach, what gets the most engagement, or what drives the most leads or conversions.
5. Set a Video Budget
As you make your plan, it’s important to think about what sort of video budget you’ll have to work with. There are a few questions you can ask yourself to get a sense of how much you’ll need to invest or, if your budget is already fixed, how to get the most bang for your buck.
What Types of Videos Do You Want to Create?
Your budget for video really depends on the types of projects you outline in your video strategy. Your finances will often dictate the creative avenues you can explore.
Every production, from live-action to animation, will range in terms of the time and resources required, so there isn’t a definitive answer when it comes to setting a video budget. Whether you aim for polish or gritty authenticity, your production quality and style will also be a factor in the cost and may even impact the number of videos you’re ultimately able to create.
Will You Create Videos Internally or Outsource them to an External Production Company?
B2B marketers cite allocating staff time and resources for video production as a top challenge for creating video, according to a Demand Metric study. This issue inevitably begs the question: “Should we try making videos ourselves or should we enlist the help of a video production company?”
If you plan to produce videos internally, you’ll need to think about who will be responsible for creating them. Will you hire an in-house videographer or a video production team?
A good way to determine which direction is best for your business is to outline your expected output. Across the board, we’re seeing companies of all sizes increase their volume of videos produced.
This chart demonstrates the volume of videos produced by small, medium, and large organizations to help you determine your video marketing strategy
Although large companies continue to be the most prolific creators of the video, companies of all sizes report an increase in overall production volume, according to findings from Demand Metric
Even if you’re not at this level of volume just yet, you’ll have to consider whether you’re creating campaigns (one-off assets) or a program (regularly scheduled videos as part of a cohesive content marketing strategy). This will often make the difference in deciding whether to produce videos in-house or outsource. You’ll want to consider what is reasonable for your company based on your size, the scope of what you’ll need to communicate, and your budget.
While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to video production, there are a lot of companies succeeding with a combination of in-house and production agencies. According to our annual benchmark data, as company size increases, so does the use of external resources for video content creation. Most small and medium companies use exclusively internal resources to produce their video content, while large enterprises are more evenly split between internal, external, or both.
How Much Will It Cost?
Deciding whether you want to produce your videos in-house or outsource them will play a big role in your costs, both per video and for your entire video program.
Video Production Company Costs
When outsourcing your videos, you can expect to go in with a typical budget ranging anywhere from N1.5 million to upwards of N10 million per video asset. This range is pretty standard for a run-of-the-mill explainer video, but again, the budget will change as you opt for higher production values.
Advanced videos with an “advertising look and feel” will range anywhere from N5 million to N20 million for major productions. On average, most budgets for a polished production (the kind that comes equipped with a full production crew) usually land somewhere between N5 million to N15 million.
With these numbers in mind, if you wanted to outsource one basic explainer video per month for a year, you’d be looking at a baseline of around N28 million at the very low end of this spectrum. All video production houses vary. We recommend you call around to get quotes that mesh with your brand’s needs and budget.
In-House Videographer Costs
If you’re looking to go the in-house production route, you’ll likely be looking to invest in your own equipment, train a staff member, or even hire a videographer. Video producers earn N25 million per year on average, according to PayScale.
Whether you hire a dedicated producer or train an existing employee, they should know how to conceptualize, capture, and edit footage from concept to completion (depending on their skill set and experience). You’ll want someone who can break down complex B2B products and work with videos from pre-production to post.
They should be imaginative, good with metaphors, and have a great sense of your target audience. Aim to hire someone with a great sense of timing when it comes to editing and someone who’s talented at directing people in front of the lens.
What Sort of Video Equipment and/or Video Marketing Software Will You Need?
If you plan to go in-house—whether you hire a dedicated person or assign video creation duties to an existing member of your marketing team—you’ll need to think about the nuts and bolts of production.
Even if you keep things pretty basic, you’ll likely still need to invest in some video production equipment. However, this would be a one-time upfront investment. For many companies, deciding to do production in-house often ends up being more cost-effective in the long run.
For traditional, professional video production, you’ll want to consider the following equipment:
Video camera
Tripod
Stabilizer
Lighting equipment (things like lights, light stands, etc.)
Audio equipment (such as a wireless microphone kit)
If you’re thinking of going the smartphone route, think about:
Lighting case (such as a selfie ring light) or clip-on light
Lighting kit
Tripod
Stabilizer
Lens
Microphone
Editing app or software
Looking for specific equipment recommendations for video production? Refer to this content about tools for traditional video production and smartphone video production, or find out what kind of equipment you can get for different budget points.
You should also consider what video marketing software your team will require to edit, organize, manage, host, and analyze your video content. There are a variety of free and paid options including ones created specifically for business use. Do some researches, check out some demos, and determine what best meets your needs.
Do You Want to Hire Actors?
Depending on the story you want to tell, you may be happy with having employees star in your video or you may want to bring in professional actors to play certain parts.
Keep in mind that bringing in actors will increase costs.
If you go the employee-actor route, think about getting release forms set up to ensure you’re legally allowed to use their image. While this may sound intimidating, it’s usually a simple, one-page form.
Some companies even have new hires sign this documentation along with onboarding paperwork. If you plan to make a lot of videos and want employees to feature prominently, you may want to consider something along these lines.
6. Establish Who’s Responsible for Video Creation
Depending on the production quality you’re aiming for and your budget, you might be able to invest in an in-house videographer or a team of marketers dedicated to video. However, you might also be outsourcing content to an agency or production house.
No matter how you’re operating with production, be sure to outline:
Who’s responsible for creative concepts and storyboarding
Who writes the scripts, when needed?
Who gets a say in the content and who’s responsible for final approvals?
Who organizes the logistics of a video shoot?
Who shoots and edits video content?
Who is responsible for distributing the finished videos?
You may also want to define an “editorial board” of major stakeholders who are consulted for input on videos. You definitely want feedback at critical points in the video process, but be mindful of an excess of cooks in the kitchen.
7. Think About Your Video Campaign Strategy
There are two main ways to approach video content and most business’ video strategies will likely involve a combination of both.
First, there’s evergreen, “business as usual” (BAU) content: This could be a regularly scheduled video series, supporting content for core pages of your website, how-to content for support pages, customer testimonial videos, and other video content that has a long shelf life.
Second, there are campaign videos, which usually run for a shorter period of time. These can range from video ads for your business to promote for something your company is doing (such as a new product or a sale) to topical social videos to timely video content that’s seasonal, aligns with a holiday, or hops on a trend. Campaign videos tend to have a shorter shelf life and are often retired after they’ve served their specific purpose.
For each video campaign you tackle, you’ll need to create a video marketing campaign strategy—essentially a mini-version of your main strategy—those answer all of the pertinent questions for the individual campaign. As with your overarching strategy, you’ll need to think about cost, target audience, goals, and more.
The big difference here is timing. This element, while important in your general video strategy, is of the utmost importance for video campaigns. This is because campaigns often rely on timeliness.
How far in advance you begin planning these projects will vary by production house or videographer, but you’ll typically want to book your campaign six to nine weeks in advance of the delivery date. For particularly complex projects, allow 10 to 13 weeks.
Sample Video Production Timeline
In terms of timeline, the breakdown typically goes something like this:
One week to share the brief and research options
One to two weeks for concept development
One to two weeks to lock down the script and pre-production details
One week blocked off for production (most shoots will take one to two days)
Two to three weeks for post-production
Keep in mind that timelines will vary depending on the type of video you’re creating for your campaign. For instance, a basic talking head will take far less time than the average motion graphic video.
Plus, don’t forget to schedule the time you’ll need to plan for distribution and any other elements that may accompany the video in the campaign.
8. Figure Out Where Video Content Will Live
After you’ve accumulated a ton of content, you need to decide where your videos will live on the web and on your site. When releasing any video, it’s critical to leverage multiple distribution channels to maximize reach and engagement.
Channels to consider include:
Multiple pages on your website (blog, a resource hub, product pages, etc.)
Inbound marketing campaigns
Outbound email marketing campaigns
Social media channels (the ones your prospects are present on)
YouTube
Your sales reps
When getting started with video, make a list of the distribution locations that make sense for you. Think about providing a dedicated place where visitors can explore all of your video assets on your own website.
Many major brands now have entire pages on their websites devoted to video. They’re focused on creating a video content hub that will keep potential customers engaged for longer and guide them through their buying journey.
Distribution isn’t the only part of this equation; you also need to determine how you’ll organize, host and manage your video content. When your team has only five videos, this may not seem that important, but it quickly becomes crucial to effective video marketing. And it’s much easier to put a system in place from day one than it is to try to shoehorn things after the fact.
When it comes to video hosting, organizations use either a free, paid, or a combination of both to manage video content. As the volume of video production goes up, so does the need for a more robust online video platform. And those that invest in paid video solutions are more satisfied with their with the value they get from the video.
This chart demonstrates satisfaction in video hosting solutions, an important consideration when developing a video marketing strategy
While free platforms are the most popular video hosting solution, it’s common for organizations to use both free and paid business platforms. According to findings from Demand Metric, those who report using a paid hosting solution for business as a stand-alone solution or in conjunction with a free platform have higher satisfaction levels.
9. Measure Your Performance
In the same way you track key performance indicators (KPIs) for written content, you need to produce, release, then review your video’s engagement data to justify your investment in video and to understand how well you’re performing. In fact, video analytics rank as the number one online video platform feature for businesses.
Metrics might still be a scary word, but the video is actually easier to track and measure than you might think. You can get detailed viewing data with the help of an online video platform.
We’ll get into video performance in more depth later on, but here’s an overview of some metrics you should track for each video campaign you release:
Number of Views and Unique Viewers: While this won’t be a measure of success on its own, it will help you understand if your distribution strategy is working
Attention Span and Drop-Off Rates: Does more than 60% of your audience make it to the end of your videos on average?
Click-Through Rates: Split test the results for email content with and without video content.
Demand Generation: Number of new leads and opportunities generated as a result of watching the video or how a video is influencing pipeline and revenue
Content Consumption: How many videos do individual leads watch in a day? A week? A month?
This step in your video marketing strategy is to determine how you’ll collect this critical information (usually done with the help of the online video platform of your choice).
Once you have a set strategy, you’ll be able to see how your video content aligns with your business objectives and start using assets more effectively.
Conclusion
Use this data to create a more detailed strategy next time around so you can set up any future marketing videos you create for success.
Time to Get Started!
The growth of video marketing is presenting a unique opportunity for brands like yours. As consumers continue to prefer video to other forms of content, they’re now expecting brands of every size and in every industry to connect with them using video. Platforms are increasingly prioritizing video content, and even new devices like phones and tablets are more video ready than ever before. That means you have to take full advantage of this amazing marketing tool to be competitive. The longer you wait, the more customers you’ll lose.
Take a look at some of our favourite brand video examples!
Luckily, it’s easier now to create a beautiful short video. You can hire experienced freelancers at the drop of a dime, or hire an agency that’ll handle everything for you with no stress. Plus, the cost of producing a video is low, so you don’t have to worry about breaking the bank to create a branded video you’ll love.
Overwhelmed? Trust us, it’s a lot to take in. But this outline should be your first step toward an effective and profitable video marketing strategy that’ll change the way your company looks at video marketing coming this new year 2022.
So, what are you waiting for?
Kenneth Horsfall is the creative director and founder of K.S. Kennysoft Studios Production Ltd fondly called Kennysoft STUDIOs, a Nigerian Video and Animation Production Studio. He is also the founder and lead instructor at Kennysoft Film Academy and can be reached via [email protected]
By Professor Myriam Sidíbe
Awards season this year was a celebration of Black creativity and cinema. Sinners directed by Ryan Coogler, garnered a historic 16 nominations, ultimately winning four Oscars. This is a film critics said would never land, which narrates an episode of Black history that had previously been diminished and, at some points, erased.
Watching the celebration of this film, following a legacy of storytelling dominated by the global north and leading to protests like #OscarsSoWhite, I felt a shift. A movement, growing louder each day and nowhere more evident than on the African continent. Here, an energetic youth—representing one-quarter of the world’s population—are using creativity to renegotiate their relationship with the rest of the world and challenge the social norms affecting their communities.
The Academy Awards held last month saw African cinema represented in the International Feature Film category by entries including South Africa’s The Heart Is a Muscle, Morocco’s Calle Málaga, Egypt’s Happy Birthday, Senegal’s Demba, and Tunisia’s The Voice of Hind Rajab.
Despite its subject matter, Wanuri Kahiu’s Rafiki, broke the silence and secrecy around LGBTQ love stories. In Kenya, where same sex relationships are illegal and loudly abhorred, Rafiki played to sold-out cinemas in the country’s capital, Nairobi, showing an appetite for home-grown creative content that challenges the status quo.
This was well exemplified at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos when alcoholic beverages firm, AB InBev convened a group of creative changemakers and unlikely allies from the private sector to explore new ways to collaborate and apply creativity to issues of social justice and the environment.
In South Africa, AB inBev promotes moderation and addresses alcohol-related gender-based violence by partnering with filmmakers to create content depicting positive behaviours around alcohol. This strategy is revolutionising the way brands create social value and serve society.
For brands, the African creative economy represents a significant opportunity. By 2030, 10 per cent of global creative goods are predicted to come from Africa. By 2050, one in four people globally will be African, and one in three of the world’s youth will be from the continent.
Valued at over USD4 trillion globally (with significant growth in Africa), these industries—spanning music, film, fashion, and digital arts—offer vital opportunities for youth, surpassing traditional sectors in youth engagement.
Already, cultural and creative industries employ more 19–29-year-olds than any other sector globally. This collection of allies in Davos understood that “business as usual” is not enough to succeed in Africa; it must be on terms set by young African creatives with societal and economic benefits.
The key question for brands is: how do we work together to harness and support this potential? The answer is simple. Brands need courage to invest in possibilities where others see risk; wisdom to partner with those others overlook; and finally, tenacity – to match an African youth that is not waiting but forging its own path.
As the energy of the creative sector continues to gain momentum, I am left wondering: which brands will be smart enough to get involved in our movement, and who has what it takes to thrive in this new world?
Professor Sidíbe, who lives in Nairobi, is the Chief Mission Officer of Brands on a Mission and Author of Brands on a Mission: How to Achieve Social Impact and Business Growth Through Purpose.
Feature/OPED
Why President Tinubu Must End Retirement Age Disparity Between Medical and Veterinary Doctors Now
By James Ezema
To argue that Nigeria cannot afford policy inconsistencies that weaken its already fragile public health architecture is not an exaggeration. The current disparity in retirement age between medical doctors and veterinary professionals is one such inconsistency—one that demands urgent correction, not bureaucratic delay.
The Federal Government’s decision to approve a 65-year retirement age for selected health professionals was, in principle, commendable. It acknowledged the need to retain scarce expertise within a critical sector. However, by excluding veterinary doctors and veterinary para-professionals—whether explicitly or by omission—the policy has created a dangerous gap that undermines both equity and national health security.
This is not merely a professional grievance; it is a structural flaw with far-reaching consequences.
At the heart of the issue lies a contradiction the government cannot ignore. For decades, Nigeria has maintained a parity framework that places medical and veterinary doctors on equivalent footing in terms of salary structures and conditions of service. The Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) framework recognizes both professions as integral components of the broader health ecosystem. Yet, when it comes to retirement policy, that parity has been abruptly set aside.
This inconsistency is indefensible.
Veterinary professionals are not peripheral actors in the health sector—they are central to it. In an era defined by zoonotic threats, where the majority of emerging infectious diseases originate from animals, excluding veterinarians from extended service retention is not only unfair but strategically reckless.
Nigeria has formally embraced the One Health approach, which integrates human, animal, and environmental health systems. But policy must align with principle. It is contradictory to adopt One Health in theory while sidelining a core component of that framework in practice.
Veterinarians are at the frontline of disease surveillance, outbreak prevention, and biosecurity. They play critical roles in managing threats such as anthrax, rabies, avian influenza, Lassa fever, and other zoonotic diseases that pose direct risks to human populations. Their contribution to safeguarding the nation’s livestock—estimated in the hundreds of millions—is equally vital to food security and economic stability.
Yet, at a time when their relevance has never been greater, policy is forcing them out prematurely.
The workforce realities make this situation even more alarming. Nigeria is already grappling with a severe shortage of veterinary professionals. In some states, only a handful of veterinarians are available, while several local government areas have no veterinary presence at all. Compelling experienced professionals to retire at 60, while their medical counterparts remain in service until 65, will only deepen this crisis.
This is not a theoretical concern—it is an imminent risk.
The case for inclusion has already been made, clearly and responsibly, by the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association and the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development. Their position is grounded in logic, policy precedent, and national interest. They are not seeking special treatment; they are demanding consistency.
The current circular, which limits the 65-year retirement age to clinical professionals in Federal Tertiary Hospitals and excludes those in mainstream civil service structures, is both administratively narrow and strategically flawed. It fails to account for the unique institutional placement of veterinary professionals, who operate largely outside hospital settings but are no less critical to national health outcomes.
Policy must reflect function, not merely location.
This is where decisive leadership becomes imperative. The responsibility now rests squarely with Bola Ahmed Tinubu to address this imbalance and restore coherence to Nigeria’s health and civil service policies.
A clear directive from the President to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation can correct this anomaly. Such a directive should ensure that veterinary doctors and veterinary para-professionals are fully integrated into the 65-year retirement framework, in line with existing parity policies and the realities of modern public health.
Anything less would signal a troubling disregard for a sector that plays a quiet but indispensable role in national stability.
This is not just about fairness—it is about foresight. Public health security is interconnected, and weakening one component inevitably weakens the entire system.
Nigeria stands at a critical juncture, confronted by complex health, food security, and economic challenges. Retaining experienced veterinary professionals is not optional; it is essential.
The disparity must end—and it must end now.
Comrade James Ezema is a journalist, political strategist, and public affairs analyst. He is the National President of the Association of Bloggers and Journalists Against Fake News (ABJFN), National Vice-President (Investigation) of the Nigerian Guild of Investigative Journalists (NGIJ), and President/National Coordinator of the Not Too Young To Perform (NTYTP), a national leadership development advocacy group. He can be reached via email: [email protected] or WhatsApp: +234 8035823617.
By Blaise Udunze
Following the successful conclusion of the banking sector recapitalisation programme initiated in March 2024 by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the industry has raised N4.65 trillion. No doubt, this marks a significant milestone for the nation’s financial system as the exercise attracted both domestic and foreign investors, strengthened capital buffers, and reinforced regulatory confidence in the banking sector. By all prudential measures, once again, it will be said without doubt that it is a success story.
Looking at this feat closely and when weighed more critically, a more consequential question emerges, one that will ultimately determine whether this achievement becomes a genuine turning point or merely another financial milestone. Will a stronger banking sector finally translate into a more productive Nigerian economy, or will it be locked out?
This question sits at the heart of Nigeria’s long-standing economic contradiction, seeing a relatively sophisticated financial system coexisting with weak industrial output, low productivity, and persistent dependence on imports truly reflects an ironic situation. The fact remains that recapitalisation, by design, is meant to strengthen banks, enhancing their ability to absorb shocks, manage risks and support economic growth. According to the apex bank, the programme has improved capital adequacy ratios, enhanced asset quality, and reinforced financial stability. Under the leadership of Olayemi Cardoso, there has also been a shift toward stricter risk-based supervision and a phased exit from regulatory forbearance.
These are necessary reforms. A stable banking system is a prerequisite for economic development. However, the truth be told, stability alone is not sufficient because the real test of recapitalisation lies not in stronger balance sheets, but in how effectively banks channel capital into productive economic activity, sectors that create jobs, expand output and drive exports. Without this transition, recapitalisation risks becoming an exercise in financial strengthening without economic transformation.
Encouragingly, early signals from industry experts suggest that the next phase of banking reform may begin to address this long-standing gap. Analysts and practitioners are increasingly pointing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as a key destination for recapitalisation inflows, which is a fact beyond doubt. Given that SMEs account for over 70 per cent of registered businesses in Nigeria, the logic is compelling. With great expectation, as has been practicalised and established in other economies, a shift in credit allocation toward this segment could unlock job creation, stimulate domestic production, and deepen economic resilience. Yet, this expectation must be balanced with reality. Historically, and of huge concern, SMEs have received only a marginal share of total bank credit, often due to perceived risk, lack of collateral, and weak credit infrastructure.
Indeed, Nigeria’s broader financial intermediation challenge remains stark. Even as the giant of Africa, private sector credit stands at roughly 17 per cent of GDP, and this is far below the sub-Saharan African average, while SMEs receive barely 1 per cent of total bank lending despite contributing about half of GDP and the vast majority of employment. These figures underscore the structural disconnect between the banking system and the real economy. Recapitalisation, therefore, must be judged not only by the strength of banks but by whether it meaningfully improves this imbalance.
Nigeria’s economic challenge is not merely one of capital scarcity; it is fundamentally a problem of low productivity. Manufacturing continues to operate far below capacity, agriculture remains largely subsistence-driven, and industrial output contributes only modestly to GDP. Despite decades of banking sector expansion, credit to the real sector has remained limited relative to the size of the economy. Instead, banks have often gravitated toward safer and more profitable avenues such as government securities, treasury instruments, and short-term trading opportunities.
This is not irrational. It reflects a rational response to risk, policy signals, and market realities. However, it has created a structural imbalance in which capital circulates within the financial system without sufficiently reaching the productive economy. The result is a pattern where financial sector growth outpaces real sector development, a phenomenon widely described as financialisation without productivity gains.
At the centre of this challenge is the issue of credit allocation. A recapitalised banking sector, strengthened by new capital and improved buffers, should theoretically expand lending. But this is, contrarily, because the more important question is where that lending will go. Will Nigerian banks extend long-term credit to manufacturers, finance agro-processing and value chains, and support scalable SMEs, or will they continue to concentrate on low-risk government debt, prioritise foreign exchange-related gains, and maintain conservative lending practices in the face of macroeconomic uncertainty? Some of these structural questions call for immediate answers from policymakers.
Some industry voices are optimistic that the expanded capital base will translate into a broader loan book, increased investment in higher-risk sectors, and improved product offerings for depositors; this is not in doubt. There are also expectations that banks will scale operations across the continent, leveraging stronger balance sheets to expand their regional footprint. Yes, they are expected, but one thing that must be made known is that optimism alone does not guarantee transformation. The fact is that without deliberate incentives and structural reforms, capital may continue to flow toward low-risk assets rather than high-impact sectors.
Beyond lending, experts are also calling for a shift in how banking success is measured. The next phase of reform, according to the experts in their arguments, must move from capital thresholds to customer outcomes. This includes stronger consumer protection frameworks, real-time complaint management systems and more transparent regulatory oversight. A more technologically driven supervisory model, one that allows regulators to monitor customer experiences and detect systemic risks early, could play a critical role in strengthening trust and accountability within the system.
This dimension is often overlooked but deeply significant. A banking system that is well-capitalised but unresponsive to customer needs risks undermining public confidence. True financial development is not only about capital strength but also about accessibility, fairness, and service quality. Nigerians must feel the impact of recapitalisation not just in improved financial ratios, but in better banking experiences, more inclusive services, and greater economic opportunity.
The recapitalisation exercise has also attracted notable foreign participation, signalling confidence in Nigeria’s banking sector. However, confidence in banks does not necessarily translate into confidence in the broader economy. The truth is that foreign investors are typically drawn to strong regulatory frameworks, attractive returns, and market liquidity, though the facts are that these factors make Nigerian banks appealing financial assets; it must be made explicitly clear that they do not automatically reflect confidence in the country’s industrial base or productivity potential.
This distinction is critical. An economy can attract capital into its financial sector while still struggling to attract investment into productive sectors. When this happens, growth becomes financially driven rather than fundamentally anchored. The risk, therefore, is that recapitalisation could deepen Nigeria’s financial markets, but what benefits or gains when banks become stronger or liquid without addressing the structural weaknesses of the real economy.
It is clear and explicit that the current policy direction of the CBN reflects a strong emphasis on stability, with tightened supervision, improved transparency, and stricter prudential standards. These measures are necessary, particularly in a volatile global environment. However, there is an emerging concern that stability may be taking precedence over growth stimulation, which should also be a focal point for every economy, of which Nigeria should not be left out of the equation. Central banks in emerging markets often face a delicate balancing act, and this is putting too much focus on stability, which can constrain credit expansion, while too much emphasis on growth can undermine financial discipline, as this calls for a balance.
In Nigeria’s case, the question is whether sufficient mechanisms exist to align banking sector incentives with national productivity goals. Are there enough incentives to encourage long-term lending, sector-specific financing, and innovation in credit delivery? Or does the current framework inadvertently reward risk aversion and short-term profitability?
Over the past two decades, it has been a herculean experience as Nigeria’s economic trajectory suggests a growing disconnect between the financial sector and the real economy. Banks have become larger, more sophisticated and more profitable, yet the irony is that the broader economy continues to struggle with high unemployment, low industrial output, and limited export diversification. This divergence reflects the structural risk of financialization, a condition in which financial activities expand without a corresponding increase in real economic productivity.
If not carefully managed, recapitalisation could reinforce this trend. With more capital at their disposal, banks may simply scale existing business models, expanding financial activities that generate returns without contributing meaningfully to production. The point is that this is not solely a failure of the banking sector; it is a systemic issue shaped by policy design, regulatory priorities, and market incentives, which needs the urgent attention of policymakers.
Meanwhile, for recapitalisation to achieve its intended purpose and truly work, it must be accompanied by a deliberate shift or intentional policy change from capital accumulation to productivity enhancement and the economy to produce more goods and services efficiently. This begins with creating stronger incentives for real sector lending with differentiated capital requirements based on sector exposure, credit guarantees for high-impact industries, and interest rate support for priority sectors, which can encourage banks to channel funds into productive areas, and this must be driven and implemented by the apex bank to harness the gains of recapitalisation.
This transformative process is not only saddled with the CBN, but the Development finance institutions also have a critical role to play in de-risking long-term investments, making it easier for commercial banks to participate in financing projects that drive economic growth. At the same time, one of the missing pieces that must be taken into cognisance is that regulatory frameworks should discourage excessive concentration in risk-free assets. No doubt, banks thrive in profitability, as government securities remain important; overreliance on them can crowd out private sector credit and limit economic expansion.
Innovation in financial products is equally essential. Traditional lending models often fail to meet the needs of SMEs and emerging industries, as this has continued to hinder growth. Banks must explore new approaches, including digital lending platforms, supply chain financing, and blended finance solutions that can unlock new growth opportunities, while they extend their tentacles by saturating the retail space just like fintech.
Accountability must also be embedded in the system. One fact is that if recapitalisation is justified as a tool for economic growth, then its outcomes and gains must be measurable and not obscure. Increased credit to productive sectors, higher industrial output and job creation should serve as key indicators of success. Without such metrics, the exercise risks being judged solely by financial indicators rather than its real economic impact.
The completion of the recapitalisation programme represents more than a regulatory achievement; it is a defining moment for Nigeria’s economic future. The country now has a banking sector that is better capitalised, more resilient, and more attractive to investors. These are important gains, but they are not ends in themselves.
The ultimate objective is to build an economy that is productive, diversified, and inclusive. Achieving this requires more than strong banks; it requires banks that actively power economic transformation.
The N4.65 trillion recapitalisation is a significant step forward. It strengthens the foundation of Nigeria’s financial system and enhances its capacity to support growth. However, capacity alone is not enough and truly not enough if the gains of recapitalisation are to be harnessed to the latter. What matters now is how that capacity is deployed.
Some of the critical questions for urgent attention are as follows: Will banks rise to the challenge of financing Nigeria’s productive sectors, particularly SMEs that form the backbone of the economy? Will policymakers create the right incentives to ensure credit flows where it is most needed? Will the financial system evolve from a focus on profitability to a broader commitment to the economic purpose of fostering a more productive Nigerian economy and the $1 trillion target?
The above questions are relevant because they will determine whether recapitalisation becomes a catalyst for change or a missed opportunity if not taken into cognisance. A well-capitalised banking sector is not the destination; it is the starting point. The real journey lies in building an economy where capital works, productivity rises, and growth becomes both sustainable and inclusive.
Blaise, a journalist and PR professional, writes from Lagos and can be reached via: [email protected]
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