Zenith Bank Plc has once again been named the Best Bank in Nigeria in the Global Finance Best Banks Awards 2025, clinching the prestigious title for the fifth time in six years. The bank was one of the 36 winners across Africa honoured by Global Finance in its 32nd Annual Best Bank Awards.

According to the publication, the winners stood out by responding effectively to customer needs in challenging economic environments, delivering strong results, and positioning themselves for future growth. Despite rapidly shifting interest rate conditions, the awardees demonstrated prudent asset and liability management.

Selections were made by the editors of Global Finance after in-depth consultations with corporate financial executives, banking professionals, and analysts across the world. Criteria for the awards ranged from objective measures—such as asset growth, profitability, geographical reach, strategic partnerships, business development, and innovation—to more subjective assessments from equity analysts, credit rating agencies, and industry consultants.

Group Managing Director/Chief Executive of Zenith Bank, Dame (Dr.) Adaora Umeoji, OON, expressed delight over the award:

“We are thrilled to retain our position as the Best Bank in Nigeria for the fifth time since 2020. This achievement is a testament to our unwavering commitment to exceptional customer service, innovative solutions, and strong corporate governance. We remain focused on investing in our people, technology, and processes to consistently deliver top-tier service.”

She acknowledged key stakeholders, including the bank’s founder and chairman, Jim Ovia, CFR, for his visionary leadership; the board for its consistent guidance; the staff for their dedication; and customers for their loyalty and support.

Publisher and editorial director of Global Finance, Joseph D. Giarraputo, noted:

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“Global banking continues to evolve, tackling challenges with resilience and seizing opportunities through innovation. AI has quickly become central to this transformation and is set to reshape the financial sector at an unprecedented pace.”

Global Finance’s Best Bank Awards are among the most coveted accolades in the banking industry, respected by banking and finance professionals across 150 countries and territories in regions including Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Europe.

Zenith Bank’s sustained excellence has earned it a long list of recognitions, including:

Number One Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital for 15 consecutive years (The Banker Magazine, 2024 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking)

Bank of the Year (Nigeria) in The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards (2020, 2022, 2024)

Best Bank in Nigeria (Global Finance World’s Best Banks Awards, 2020–2022, 2024)

Best Bank for Digital Solutions in Nigeria (Euromoney Awards, 2023)

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Inclusion in the World Finance Top 100 Global Companies (2023)

Other notable awards include:

Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria (World Finance Banking Awards, 2021–2024)

Most Sustainable Bank, Nigeria (International Banker Awards, 2023, 2024)

Best Corporate Governance Bank, Nigeria (World Finance Corporate Governance Awards, 2022–2024)

Best in Corporate Governance – Financial Services, Africa (Ethical Boardroom, 2020–2023)

Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria (The Banker Magazine, 2020, 2021)

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Bank of the Year (BusinessDay BAFI Awards, 2023, 2024)

Retail Bank of the Year (BAFI Awards, 2020–2022, 2024)

Best Innovation in Retail Banking, Nigeria (International Banker, 2022)

Most Responsible Organisation in Africa, Best Company in Transparency and Reporting, and Best Company in Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (SERAS CSR Awards Africa, 2024)

Bank of the Year by ThisDay and New Telegraph newspapers (2024)

Best in MSME Trade Finance (Nairametrics, 2023)

Rights Issue/Public Offer of the Year (Nairametrics Capital Market Choice Awards, 2025)

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Zenith Bank continues to set the benchmark for excellence, innovation, and responsible banking in Nigeria’s financial services sector.

FrieslandCampina WAMCO, stated its plans to establish a Dairy Academy in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development to strengthen local capacity and promote dairy development in Nigeria.

The company stated this in celebrating World Milk Day 2025 with the theme ‘Let’s Celebrate the Power of Dairy’.

This initiative is designed to strengthen local capacity and expand Nigeria’s dairy sector sustainably.
At the 2025 World Milk Day Conference held in Abuja, the managing director, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Roger Adou, said, the proposed Dairy Academy will be located on 20-hectare plots at Maya Farm in Oyo State, owned by FrieslandCampina WAMCO, and will serve as a specialized training hub for dairy farmers and service providers.

He added, the academy will deliver modern training in dairy farming, milk hygiene, animal health, and climate-smart agriculture.

The Dairy Academy will also offer flexible courses alongside an intensive Artificial Insemination (AI) course.

To facilitate effective learning, the facility will be equipped with a 200-seat training hall, a laboratory, cow sheds, hay barns, silage storage, and essential farm machinery, including tractors, boom sprayers, harvesters, and manure spreaders.

Speaking on the significance of this expansion, executive director, Corporate Affairs, Ore Famurewa, stated, “the establishment of a Dairy Academy represents a major leap forward in building the technical competencies and business knowledge of dairy farmers.

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“We are committed to developing Nigeria into a centre of dairy excellence through sustainable backward integration and strategic partnerships.”

Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Maiha, emphasized that the Dairy Academy will serve as a national resource for empowering rural farmers to improve milk quality and yield as well as provide sustainable employment opportunities.

Reinforcing this vision, Adou remarked, “our collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development on the Dairy Academy builds on our long-term commitment to transform Nigeria’s dairy value chain.

“Empowering farmers with knowledge, modern technology, and sustainable practices is essential to building a self-sufficient dairy sector. FrieslandCampina WAMCO is committed to making affordable, high-quality milk accessible to every household.”

Launched in April 2021, the Value4Dairy Consortium, the first business partner model of its kind in Nigeria, established three dairy zones in Oyo, Osun, and Abuja. Through this consortium, FrieslandCampina WAMCO and its partners have executed over 1,351 artificial inseminations with a 65 per cent success rate.

FrieslandCampina WAMCO reaffirmed its vision to grow local sourcing, improve livelihoods of local farmers, and expand infrastructure, ensuring that the dairy sector becomes a catalyst for economic growth, innovation, and national food security.

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He claimed in his article that “we woke up to a letter stating that the concession had been revoked. There was no prior warning, no issue, no conflict….” This is a blatant lie. It is not just that the BUA Group received numerous notifications and warnings about its negligence of contractual responsibilities; some of these warnings preceded my tenure as managing director.

On Thursday, 29 May, Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu, chairman of the BUA Group, wrote an article riddled with falsehood by accusing an unnamed former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) of acting against the interest of his business organisation, as reported by PREMIUM TIMES NIGERIA.

In the said article entitled, “Two years of President Tinubu: A business perspective,” he wrote: “We no longer worry about arbitrary shutdowns or politically motivated disruptions. Let me give a real example. We started a new business in Port Harcourt four or five years ago under BUA Foods, operating at the Rivers Ports under a concession with the Nigerian Ports Authority. It was going very well. One day, we woke up to a letter stating that the concession had been revoked, the terminal shut down, and the lease agreement terminated. There was no warning, no issue, no conflict.

“Later, we discovered that the Managing Director of NPA at the time decided to close the business simply because our operations were competing with those of her friend. She wanted to impress her friend. That was the only reason…”

Although the article otherwise stated factual and commendable efforts of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to stabilise the business climate in Nigeria, his narration of the dispute between the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the BUA Group are, to say the least, shameful.

He claimed in his article that “we woke up to a letter stating that the concession had been revoked. There was no prior warning, no issue, no conflict….” This is a blatant lie. It is not just that the BUA Group received numerous notifications and warnings about its negligence of contractual responsibilities; some of these warnings preceded my tenure as managing director.

• BUA Ports and Terminal Limited became concessionaires of Rivers Port Terminal B for a 20-year tenure through a concession agreement contract dated 11 May, 2006. The Terminal was handed over to them for use with effect from 10 August, 2006.
• As part of the terms of agreement for the concession, BUA Ports and Terminal Limited was required to commence full reconstruction of Berths 5-8 within 90 days of the handover of the facility.
• Ten years after taking possession of the terminal and operating it, BUA had not commenced the rehabilitation of the quays that it was required to commence in 90 days.
• A notice of default was issued to the company on 11 February 2016, which was before my appointment as MD of the Nigerian Ports Authority.
• The letter with the subject: ‘Non-compliance with the reconstruction of Berths 5-8 in line with your terminal development plan as contained in your lease agreement’, read in part: “We refer to the above subject matter and our earlier letters dated 19th May 2014 and 3rd February 2016. We observed that you had deliberately/and or refused to commence improvement on the reconstruction of Berths 5-8 in line with the laid down procedure in the approved development plan as contained in Appendix D of the executed agreement…”
• Despite receiving the letter, dated 11 February 2016, from NPA, the company refused to honour this fundamental and material term of the lease agreement, which compromised the integrity of the other adjoining berths in the ports.
• On 17 August 2016, the NPA, under my leadership, issued another notice of default drawing the attention of BUA to the failure to fulfil its obligations. Still, BUA did not commence the rehabilitation in line with the contractual obligation.
• Then, three months later, on 11 November 2016, the NPA issued them a three-month termination notice referring to the several default notices served on BUA in relation to the non-fulfilment of the obligations under the lease agreement.
• On receipt of the notice of termination, BUA Ports and Terminal sought and obtained a restraining order from the Federal High Court, Lagos, on 18 January 2018, barring the Authority from giving effect to the termination.
• In compliance with the restraining order of the Federal High Court, the NPA thereafter allowed BUA Ports and Terminal Limited full access to the premises for peaceful operation, without any interference whatsoever
• It is pertinent to note that the process for the default notices issued to BUA commenced in February 2016, before my appointment as managing director.
• However, I proceeded to implement the recommendations to safeguard the sanctity of the agreement and protect the Federal Government of Nigeria from a defaulting concessionaire seeking to take advantage of the government by using its facilities without making the due investment enshrined in the development plan of the concession agreement.
• While flaunting his access to former President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Rabiu refused to disclose that he abused this access to misinform the former president into reversing NPA’s decision, thereby issuing a directive that contradicted the existing contract and negating the country’s interests.
• It is, therefore, curious that the chairman of BUA Group has continued to push this false narrative aimed at distracting Nigerians from seeing his company’s flagrant disregard of the binding contractual agreement.
• The company and its chairman should refrain from cheap blackmail and commit to making the company a responsible corporate body that will make the country proud.

Culled from Premium Times Nigeria

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Chairman, FirstHoldCo Group, Mr. Femi Otedola has been named the Activist investor and Market Maker of the Year, 2025 by Nairametrics at its Capital Market Choice Awards ceremony over the weekend.

It said the award was in recognition of the role Otedola has been playing in the Nigerian Capital market and his various strategic moves which have impacted the market positively in over two decades.

FirstHoldCo, FirstBank and First Asset Management also received important awards at the event. First HoldCo Plc received the Tier-One Bank award of the Year (FUGAZ Bank of the Year), while FirstBank won the Agency Bank of the Year award which is a true reflection of the relevance, spread, strength and strategy of the bank in the agency banking and retail space in Nigeria.

First Asset Management won the Fund Manager of the Year award; reflecting the dominance of the company in the investment related activities in the Nigerian financial sector.

Billionaire businessman Otedola donates N3.7b Engineering building Phase II to Augustine University
These awards indeed signify a remarkable reality at the growing status of the FirstHoldCo Group as a major economic driver in the country’s financial landscape.

Speaking on these unprecedented recognition and achievements, Femi Otedola, said: ‘I am delighted at this recognition bestowed on me and the awards won by the companies in the FirstHoldCo Group. This attests to a collective focus in shaping the future of the Nigerian Capital Market and the strategic synergy in executing effective goals and objectives in the various locations where we operate as a Group.’’

Group Managing Director, FirstHoldCo Plc. Wale Oyedeji also said that “the awards won, show the laudable progression the Group is making towards delivering excellent service across board,” adding, “this indeed will continue unabated.’’ He congratulated Otedola, saying the recognition was “hugely deserved,”

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Nairametrics Founder/CEO, Ugo Obi-Chukwu, said the Capital Market Choice Awards was “our way of reinforcing the values that drive a robust capital ecosystem-trust, performance and progress,’’ adding, ‘’ these awards will now be a tradition.’’

By Aniekan Ezekiel

What happens when legacy meets preparedness? What results from such a combination? Let us not be in a hurry to put forward any answers yet. Instead, let us consider first the opposite situation: When legacy meets unpreparedness.

The world abounds in examples of this distressing situation. A dynasty that has built wealth from generation to generation, with its illustrious heirs providing generational leadership, finds itself in a strange phase where an ill-prepared heir takes over the reins and in that same generation, not the next, wipes out the entire family fortune built over several generations.

We see the same thing with nations. History is replete with examples of great nations built by great leaders, which slid into oblivion when they were hit by arguably the greatest misfortune that ever befalls humanity – bad leadership. It is the reason American author and leadership expert John Maxwell asserts, “Everything rises and falls with leadership.”

As with nations, so with organisations. We see organisations that have thrived for decades and over several generations, get a new leader who is not prepared for such leadership, and the leader pushes the organisation to the brink of collapse.

Contrast this picture with the situation at Nigeria’s most enduring corporate organisation with the most amazing legacies of firsts, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, which witnessed a leadership transition about a year ago. Faced with a number of quality options in and outside the then management team, the decision-makers at the bank and its parent company FBNHoldings, now First HoldCo Plc, had to be clear-minded about who could become the new Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank Group.

Equally important as the need for continuity was the non-negotiable requirement for capacity to manage the ship of the 130-years-plus institution to sustain its enviable legacies and consolidate the gains made in recent years. The search was for someone with a steady head and hands (talk of risk control and mitigation), in addition to an excellent track record of sterling performance and achievements.

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Fortunately, fate was on their side. They did not have to look outside. Right there before them was someone who understood all kinds of risks and how to control and mitigate them. He had been with FirstBank since 2016 when he joined as Group Executive / Chief Risk Officer. Then in January 2022 he was elevated to Executive Director / Chief Risk Officer and Executive Compliance Officer.

This man has given nearly three decades of his working life to the banking and financial services industry. He has under his belt a rich tapestry of cross-functional experience in credit risk management, financial planning and control, credit and marketing, and trade. His cross-functional exposure also includes corporate and commercial banking, agriculture financing, oil and gas, transportation, including aviation and shipping, and project financing

Meet Olusegun Alebiosu, the man history had prepared and the one decision-makers chose among the quality options. He was appointed substantive Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank Group in June 2024, having acted in that capacity since April 2024 when the former CEO left.

Determined to build on the bank’s legacies while navigating the ever-changing landscape of the financial services industry, Alebiosu has shown unwavering commitment to lead the bank through a transformative period that places emphasis on strategic consolidation, technological advancement and market expansion.

Alebiosu’s approach to sustaining the legacies of firsts at FirstBank, which has been at the vanguard of accelerating Nigeria’s digital payments as the first bank to issue over 13 million cards to customers, draws from his vast professional experience which began with Oceanic Bank Plc, now Ecobank Plc, in 1991. Between then and joining FirstBank in 2016, he had worked at Coronation Merchant Bank as Chief Risk Officer, at African Development Bank Group as Chief Credit Risk Officer and at United Bank for Africa as Group Head, Credit Policy and Deputy Chief Credit Risk Officer.

Under one year of his appointment as substantive CEO of FirstBank, Alebiosu’s strategic consolidation efforts have demonstrated that he is a worthy successor, not an ill-prepared or unprepared one, proving the decision-makers right. Understanding the critical role of its human capital in sustaining the bank’s legacies, Alebiosu has invested himself and the bank’s resources in promoting staff welfare.

A comprehensive review of the bank’s compensation structure was undertaken to position it within the 75th percentile of the industry, making the bank more retentive of, and attractive to, the best talents. The highest number of staff promotions across various grades in the last five years has happened under Alebiosu’s watch, with 1,654 employees being elevated in one single promotion cycle.

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Under his leadership, over 2,186 new hires have been recruited across key functions and subsidiaries, with a large number of them deployed to the sales function to ensure that retail customers are adequately served. Staff are now more engaged based on the high employee engagement score of 86% achieved in the April 2025 WorkBuzz survey, indicating remarkable progress in the bank’s multi-pronged efforts to promote a positive and inclusive workplace culture.

This drive to reinforce a culture of inclusion and recognition has been accentuated by the launch of a group-wide culture transformation initiative with the goal of embedding the core values of integrity, excellence and innovation. It has also been strengthened by a renewed focus on inclusion, collaboration and high performance. Also contributing was the staging of a FirstBank Employee Appreciation Day 2025 featuring, among others, a personalised appreciation video message from the CEO to all employees across the group throughout Africa and beyond. The inclusion message is further boosted by the launch of the inaugural edition of the bank’s pioneering initiative, Mandarin Language School, to bolster the bank’s expansion in the Asian market.

Expansion is a critical plank in FirstBank’s new strategic planning horizon, under Alebiosu’s leadership. Taking off this 2025, the plan seeks to reinforce the bank’s market dominance across all operational regions and it includes deliberate expansion into new markets within and outside Africa.

Beyond geographical and horizontal expansion, Alebiosu’s plan has also targeted a skyward expansion. Or how else does one describe the groundbreaking ceremony in March 2025 for the bank’s new green-certified, 44-storey iconic head office building in Eko Atlantic City, Lagos State?

Alebiosu is also prioritising the acceleration of process automation in recognition of the importance of digital transformation. It is a massive push for technological advancement that includes adopting robotics technology and artificial intelligence at scale, to give the bank an unassailable competitive advantage among its peers in the industry.

The bank has deployed digital tools to enhance seamless account opening and optimised backend systems and customer service delivery. Two additional Digital Experience Centres (DXCs) have been launched – one at Lekki Admiralty Way, Lagos State and the other at its UNN branch, Nsukka, Enugu State. Also, the bank’s agent network has expanded to over 280,000, a 50,000 increase from the 230,000 agents it had in 2023.

As expected, shareholders, among other stakeholders, have been observing the strides the bank has been making under Alebiosu’s leadership, with a keen eye on the numbers. Fortunately, again, the bank’s results for the financial year ended December 2024 speak volumes, with after-tax profit of its parent company rising to the highest point it has reached in the last 12 years, according to the company’s latest financial statement.

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In recognition of his achievements within such a short period and his exemplary leadership, Alebiosu was honoured at the World Business Outlook Awards as “Banking CEO of the Year – Nigeria 2025”. He has also been honoured with the “Special African Banking Leadership Award” by African Leadership Magazine. This was in 2024.

The story of Alebiosu’s leadership at FirstBank has clearly been one of preparedness meeting legacy. Working with the board and management team, he has consistently sustained the bank’s legacies and also consolidated its recent gains in ways that will ensure the gains keep compounding. FirstBank, more than ever before, is poised for greater intra- and intercontinental growth and impact in the years ahead.

Aniekan Ezekiel

Premium Trust Bank’s e-payment service manager, Matthew Adeniyi, has been arraigned before a Federal High Court in Lagos on allegations of hacking into the bank’s server, marking a significant legal development in cybersecurity violations within the banking sector, as reported by Nairametrics.

Adeniyi, along with four co-defendants, Kehinde Odeyemi, a nursing mother, Samson Latshin, Bolaji Omotosho, and Sunday Okunnola, was formally charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Alexander Owoeye.

The charges, spread across six counts, include conspiracy, cybercrime, and unlawful access to the bank’s database.

The prosecutor, Mrs. Zeenat Atiku, alleged that the defendants committed the offence between April and May 2025, working in collaboration with three additional suspects who are currently at large. Those still evading law enforcement include Isa Ismaila, Victor Joshua, known by the alias ‘Oracle’, and another individual simply identified as Humble.

According to the prosecution, Adeniyi, the first defendant, unlawfully disclosed highly sensitive credentials, including the bank’s server IP and domain details, to his alleged accomplices. This unauthorized disclosure reportedly led to a security breach, allowing illicit access to the bank’s database.

“The breach resulted in a financial loss of $10,000,” the prosecutor stated, outlining the gravity of the cyber intrusion.

Additionally, Atiku revealed that the defendants attempted to intercept the bank’s network security systems and procured a Hewlett-Packard ProBook 440 G9 laptop (serial number SN#5CD2473N6G) specifically configured to bypass the financial institution’s cybersecurity protocols.

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Legal Proceedings and Bail Considerations
Despite the severity of the allegations, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. The EFCC stated that the alleged offences violated the provisions of sections 12(1)(b), 27, 28(1)(b)(c), and 28(3) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition Act, 2015, as amended in 2024).

Following their pleas, the prosecution sought a trial date and requested that the defendants be remanded in custody pending trial.

In response, the defence counsel made an oral application for bail, which the court declined, directing that a formal bail application be filed. Justice Owoeye subsequently adjourned the case to June 30 for trial and ruled that the defendants be remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Centre until their bail hearing.

The court further stated that the defence may apply for an earlier trial date upon filing their bail applications.

This high-profile cybercrime case underscores growing concerns about security vulnerabilities within financial institutions and the increasing sophistication of digital crimes.

What you should know
Financial crimes are usually perpetrated by staff of banks in collaboration with other outsiders.

Earlier this month, the Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal upheld the seven-year imprisonment of a convicted former employee of Guaranty Trust Bank, Onyekachi Nwosu, for his involvement in a loan fraud amounting to over N50 million.

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Last week, a staff member of Access Bank Plc, Abdulmajeed Agboola, narrated to the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, how the bank’s former employee, Olajide Ogunmoroti, allegedly accessed the bank’s server through a private laptop, resulting in a system glitch on customers account that led to a N5 billion fraud.

Experts have advised that by adopting safer banking habits, strengthening institutional security frameworks, and fostering stronger collaboration among stakeholders, financial institutions can minimize risks while continuing to enjoy the benefits of a secure and efficient digital financial system.

Nairametrics