Category: Business Day

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to ally against drug trafficking and piracy.

Speaking at a brief ceremony to sign the MoU at the NDLEA headquarters on Friday, Buba Marwa, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, said the partnership may appear to bring together two unrelated mandates, but, on closer examination, it reflects a shared reality in the fight against organised crime in Nigeria.

According to him, ‘Our experience at the front lines of drug law enforcement has shown us time and again that criminal networks rarely confine themselves to a single illicit enterprise.

He noted that the same syndicates that traffic in narcotics are often found dabbling in other forms of economic crime, including the piracy of intellectual works that rightfully belong to Nigeria’s creatives

Such piracy activities are rampant amongst musicians, filmmakers, writers, and software developers, adding that ‘Proceeds from one illegal trade frequently find their way into financing the other. This is the criminal value chain we must disrupt together.

‘Today’s MoU gives structure to that shared fight. Through it, our two agencies commit to exchanging intelligence, coordinating joint operations, building the capacity of our respective officers, and supporting one another with the technical resources needed to do this work well.

He stated that a Joint Working Committee will be established to drive this collaboration forward, meeting regularly to ensure that what we sign Today translates into real results on the ground.

‘Let me be clear: this partnership is not just about law enforcement. It is about protecting the health and social wellbeing of our people, and about safeguarding the immense creative talent of this nation: a talent that deserves to thrive without the theft that piracy represents, and a society that deserves protection from the scourge of illicit drugs.’

He commended the NCC for recognising the intersection between drug trafficking and piracy.

‘This is how effective government works; agencies finding the common threads in their missions and pulling together rather than in isolation’, Marwa added.

In his remarks, John Asein, the Director General of NCC, noted that the alliance between NDLEA and NCC marks a significant milestone in the growing culture of inter-agency collaboration within the Nigerian public service, adding that the effort will enhance the common responsibility of protecting Nigerian society from criminal enterprises that undermine national security, economic development and the rule of law.

According to him, ‘Copyright piracy is sometimes wrongly perceived as a minor commercial offence or a victimless activity. In reality, large-scale piracy is often a highly organised and profitable criminal enterprise. It deprives creators and investors of legitimate income, destroys jobs, discourages investment, reduces government revenue and weakens the foundations of Nigeria’s creative economy.

The DG, who noted that International experience has demonstrated that organised copyright piracy is rarely an isolated criminal activity, stated that ‘the same criminal syndicates, logistics channels, financial networks and distribution systems used to traffic pirated goods have also been linked to other forms of transnational organised crime, including narcotics trafficking, money laundering, smuggling and cyber-enabled offences

This reality underscores the imperative for closer collaboration between agencies such as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the Nigerian Copyright Commission.

‘The same clandestine supply chains, transportation routes, storage facilities, financial channels and distribution networks used for trafficking in illicit drugs and other prohibited goods may also be deployed for the movement and sale of pirated books, films, music, software and other copyright products. Proceeds from piracy may equally be laundered or channelled into other criminal activities.

‘This connection makes collaboration between the Nigerian Copyright Commission and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency both necessary and timely

He stressed that by combining their respective mandates, expertise and intelligence capabilities, both organisations can more effectively identify criminal networks, trace illicit financial flows, disrupt illegal supply chains and dismantle the structures that sustain organised criminal enterprises.

‘For the Nigerian Copyright Commission, this partnership offers an invaluable opportunity to leverage the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s world-class expertise in intelligence-led law enforcement.

He therefore commended the NDLEA for earning a well-deserved reputation, both nationally and internationally, for its professionalism, operational excellence and innovation in combating organised crime.

‘ Under the able leadership of the Chairman/Chief Executive, the Agency has demonstrated remarkable success in intelligence-driven operations, strategic investigations, forensic capabilities, surveillance, financial intelligence, international cooperation and effective inter-agency coordination,’ he said

The question in Nigerian policy circles has quietly flipped from whether the country can build a full Open Finance regime to whether it can afford not to.

Nigeria has spent a decade building some of the continent’s most admired financial rails, instant transfers, a fast-growing base of digital identities, and a fintech sector that international investors now study as a case model. Yet, the country’s financial data still behaves like it belongs to another era: locked in silos, repeated at every counter, and invisible to anyone outside the institution who first collected it.

Open Finance is the policy answer taking shape to that contradiction, and no single regulator can license it into existence. It is closer to a piece of national infrastructure like roads, electricity or digital identity except that instead of moving people, power or paperwork, it moves economic information. Getting it right will require eight separate institutional mandates to move in step: the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

The cost of silos, counted

The case for urgency rests on numbers Nigeria already knows well: a population above 200 million, the largest fintech ecosystem on the continent, rising digital identity coverage anchored by NIMC, and payment volumes that continue to climb. Yet financial data remains fragmented,held separately by banks, insurers, pension administrators, capital market operators, credit bureaux and tax authorities, each seeing only a sliver of the same customer.

The consequences of that fragmentation show up everywhere: as duplicated Know-Your-Customer checks at every new institution a customer touches; as thin-file borrowers who are creditworthy in practice but invisible on paper; as fraud that slips through because no single institution holds a verified, shared view of identity or behaviour; and as fintech innovation that is slowed because each new integration into a bank or insurer has to be negotiated and built from scratch.

Open Finance proposes a different premise entirely: that the customer, not the institution, owns the data. Banks, insurers and pension funds become custodians rather than owners, and information moves only with explicit, granular, time-bound and revocable consent, logged and auditable, so both regulators and customers can see who has accessed what and why.

Not the same as Open Banking

Open Finance is a considerably larger undertaking than Open Banking, the API-driven sharing of bank account and payment data that Nigeria, like the UK before it, has already set in motion with Africa’s first open banking regulatory framework issued in 2021, operational guidelines in 2023 and a phased go-live now rolling out through 2026. Open Finance extends that logic across insurance, pensions, capital markets and credit, covering full financial life data, rather than just transaction histories, and necessarily draws in multiple regulators acting in coordination rather than one payments authority acting alone. The prize, correspondingly, is bigger, economy-wide gains in inclusion, competition and productivity, well beyond payments efficiency.

Other jurisdictions have already sequenced this journey in instructive ways. The United Kingdom mandated open banking through its CMA9 order and is now evolving toward smart data and open finance. Brazil phased its own rollout under the central bank, folding investments in stages while insurance and pensions advanced under its insurance regulator before the two tracks were made interoperable. India built a consent-based account aggregator framework that extends data flows across financial sectors without requiring a single dominant platform. Australia’s Consumer Data Right began in banking and has since extended into energy, with non-bank lending slated to follow from 2026. Singapore’s SGFinDex, arguably the most citizen-facing model on the list, gives individuals a single consolidated view of their accounts across banks, insurers and government agencies. Nigeria does not need to choose one template wholesale. It can borrow the sequencing discipline of Brazil, the neutral-aggregator model of India, and the trust-building instincts of Singapore.

What it could unlock

Look sector by sector, and the gap between fragmented data and a functioning open finance layer becomes concrete. Farmers, largely invisible to formal credit and insurance markets today, could be underwritten using shared cooperative and trade records combined with satellite and weather data. Small businesses, which make up the bulk of Nigeria’s economy, could move from collateral-based lending toward cash flow-based lending, using verified transaction histories to access invoice financing and working capital. Women running informal enterprises could convert savings-group and trade-credit activity into a usable credit history. Young Nigerians without long employment records could build a financial identity from verified skills, training and alternative data rather than waiting years to accumulate a traditional credit file. And the government itself stands to gain: pre-populated tax filings, faster business registration, and social interventions that reach verified recipients rather than leaking to fraud.

Naming the risks honestly

None of this is free of hazard. Twelve categories of risk deserve scrutiny before any regime is built. Nine are named in breath: cybersecurity, privacy, financial crime, algorithmic bias, consent fatigue, cross-border data flows, operational resilience, third-party dependency and digital exclusion. The final three are subtler. Aggregated data can re-identify individuals even when each contributing source seems harmless on its own. Concentration in a handful of API providers or data aggregators creates new single points of failure that did not exist when institutions operated in isolation. And interconnection itself can transmit shocks faster across sectors that were previously walled off from one another. Naming these risks honestly is precisely what makes a regime durable rather than fragile.

The governance question

The central tension is this: eight institutions (seven regulators and one shared infrastructure operator)s, each with a clear and legitimate mandate will all need to act in concert on licensing, consent standards, consumer redress, data security and cross-border data flow. CBN holds the mandate on payments and banking data, SEC on capital markets disclosure, NAICOM on insurance data standards, PenCom on pension portability, NDPC on consent and cross-sector enforcement, FCCPC on competition and consumer protection, NIMC on the identity layer underpinning everything, and NIBSS on shared payment infrastructure. Three governance models could plausibly coexist rather than compete: a Joint Oversight Committee to set policy, a Lead Regulator Model to handle day-to-day supervision, and a shared supervisory technology (SupTech) platform giving every agency real-time visibility into the same data.

A roadmap to 2030

Rather than treat Open Finance as a single switch to flip, a credible build looks like a five-pillar, phased programme running from 2026 to 2030 resting on governance, technology, regulation, industry collaboration and citizen trust. It begins with a joint governance charter and common API standards in 2026, moves through sector-by-sector onboarding of insurance, pensions and capital markets by 2028, and arrives at a matured, cross-sector ecosystem with measured outcomes by 2030.

The stakes are best understood by analogy. Roads connect places. Electricity powers businesses. Digital identity identifies citizens. Open Finance connects economic information and, in doing so, becomes national economic infrastructure in its own right. Countries will increasingly compete not solely on capital, but on how intelligently information moves through their economies. For Nigeria’s regulators, banks and fintechs, that is less a forecast than an invitation: the plumbing is technically within reach; what remains is the harder work of coordinated trust.

The Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria has called on the Federal Government to declare banditry a humanitarian emergency to enable a coordinated response to the growing displacement crisis in Nigeria’s North-West.

The Programme Officer for Good Governance at Caritas Nigeria, Mr Jude Akwo, made the call in Sokoto during a one-day Stakeholders’ Policy Dialogue and Research Dissemination Workshop on women, conflict and peacebuilding.

Akwo said an official declaration would attract stronger intervention from federal authorities and international humanitarian organisations, leading to the establishment of properly managed camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in communities ravaged by banditry and terrorism.

According to him, most IDP settlements in the region are informal and lack basic infrastructure and protection, leaving displaced persons, particularly women and children, vulnerable to further abuse.

‘The IDP camps are not formal; they are informal settlements. There are cases of secondary abuse in these camps. Women are raped because the camps have no fences, while many displaced families are forced to live in makeshift shelters and uncompleted buildings,’ he said.

He urged governments in affected states to acknowledge the scale of the humanitarian crisis caused by insecurity.

‘If governments believe they lack the resources to establish proper camps, they should first recognise that banditry and terrorism have created a humanitarian emergency.

‘Once that is acknowledged, the type of coordinated humanitarian response implemented in the North-East can be replicated in the North-West. The response should be organised, strategic and sustainable,’ Akwo said.

He explained that the workshop formed part of Caritas Nigeria’s Good Governance Programme, which promotes peacebuilding, civic participation, citizen-government engagement and parliamentary liaison.

According to him, the dialogue also disseminated findings from a research project examining the experiences and responses of women affected by armed conflict across North-West states.

Akwo said the study sought to challenge the perception of women solely as victims by highlighting their active contributions to conflict response and community resilience.

‘We wanted to move beyond the narrative of female victimhood. Our findings show that women have played significant roles in early warning and early response mechanisms. They have developed community-based strategies to respond to conflict and have cared for children and families whose relatives were kidnapped,’ he said.

He noted that women have also organised community savings groups to support victims and, in some cases, raise funds to secure the release of kidnapped relatives.

‘These women have built support networks that care for survivors. Through village savings and loan groups, they contribute resources to assist affected families and, in some cases, even raise money to pay ransoms.

‘Our findings show that women should be recognised as key actors in addressing banditry and insecurity. They have an important role to play in promoting peace, resolving conflicts and supporting community recovery,’ Akwo added.

Nigeria’s diaspora remittance inflows are on course to hit $1 billion every month by the end of 2026, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intensifies reforms aimed at attracting more foreign exchange through official channels.

Olayemi Cardoso, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said this in a fireside chat moderated by Frank Aigbogun, publisher and chief executive officer of BusinessDay Media Limited, during the BusinessDay CEO Forum 2026.

Cardoso said the apex bank’s reforms have already doubled remittance inflows from their previous levels and are expected to become an increasingly important source of foreign exchange for the country.

‘We gave ourselves a goal that we would double the remittance inflows between the time we started and the end of the year, and we did exactly that,’ Cardoso said.

‘We’re not relenting on that. We’re continuing on that trajectory. As at the last time, it was over $600 million, and we’re expecting that by the end of the year it will hit about $1 billion a month from diaspora remittances.’

The projection signals the CBN’s determination to diversify Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings beyond oil exports, positioning diaspora inflows as a more reliable and sustainable contributor to external reserves amid persistent global economic uncertainty.

Cardoso attributed the improvement in remittance inflows to a series of policy changes that removed bottlenecks for Nigerians abroad and international money transfer operators.

According to him, the apex bank engaged directly with diaspora communities, commercial banks and other stakeholders across multiple countries to understand the pain points discouraging remittances through official channels.

‘Our belief is that through sound policies, understanding where the pain points were, revamping our own policies to ensure there was free entry and free access for everybody, that is what made the difference,’ he said. ‘This is a continuous process.’

The governor linked the stronger remittance performance to broader reforms in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market, arguing that the elimination of multiple exchange rate windows and improved market liquidity have restored confidence among Nigerians overseas and international investors alike.

He noted that the reforms have contributed to the growth of Nigeria’s external reserves to about $52 billion* while net reserves have risen significantly from levels recorded when the current CBN management assumed office.

Cardoso explained that stronger reserves should not be viewed as funds for routine intervention in the foreign exchange market but rather as strategic buffers against external shocks.

‘A reserve is meant to be a reserve. It is not meant to be used for day-to-day management,’ he said, adding that the improved liquidity in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market now allows demand and supply to play a greater role with minimal intervention from the central bank.

He said the country’s reserve position currently provides roughly 10 months of import cover, a metric closely watched by foreign investors when assessing the stability of an economy and its currency.

The CBN governor maintained that the bank intends to continue growing reserves organically through improved market confidence, stronger foreign capital inflows and rising diaspora remittances rather than relying on administrative controls.

Access Holdings recorded Africa’s biggest increase in Tier 1 capital, leading a strong showing by Nigerian lenders in The Banker’s latest global banking rankings.

An analysis by BusinessDay of The Banker’s 2026 Top 1000 World Banks report shows that four Nigerian lenders ranked among the continent’s 10 fastest-growing banks by Tier 1 capital, reflecting gains from recapitalisation, cross-border acquisitions, and a stabilising domestic economy.

Access, Nigeria’s largest banking group by assets, posted a 60.9 per cent increase in Tier 1 capital to $2.46 billion, the highest growth among African lenders. Egypt’s Commercial International Bank (CIB) followed with a 47.8 per cent increase to $3.91 billion, while Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) ranked third, growing Tier 1 capital by 40.2 per cent to $1.85 billion.

Tier 1 capital, regarded as the highest-quality measure of a bank’s financial strength, consists mainly of common equity and retained earnings that can absorb losses while allowing a bank to continue operating. Regulators use it under the Basel III framework to assess a bank’s resilience during periods of financial stress.

Morocco’s Crédit Immobilier et Hôtelier and Crédit Agricole du Maroc occupied fourth and fifth positions with growth of 38.8 percent and 34 percent, respectively. United Bank for Africa (UBA) ranked sixth with a 33.8 percent increase, followed by Morocco’s Bank of Africa. Angola’s Banco Angolano de Investimentos came eighth, while Zenith Bank placed ninth after increasing Tier 1 capital by 29.1 percent. Egypt’s Faisal Islamic Bank completed the top 10 with a growth of 28.5 percent.

‘Nigerian banks similarly march up this year’s rankings, taking advantage of a stabilising economy and the dollar’s weakness,’ The Banker said.

The UK-based banking and financial intelligence publication attributed Access Holdings’ performance to the final phase of its aggressive acquisition strategy, noting that the lender recorded ‘the continent’s largest annual increase in Tier 1 capital’ after completing the acquisitions of National Bank of Kenya and several Standard Chartered subsidiaries across Africa.

The rankings highlight that years of expansion by Nigerian lenders are beginning to translate into stronger capital positions and greater regional influence.

Zenith Bank climbed 55 places to 526th globally after increasing its Tier 1 capital by 29.1 percent. However, The Banker said the lender narrowly trailed GTBank in its Nigerian performance rankings, with GTBank outperforming on operational efficiency, asset quality and financial soundness.

Outside Nigeria, Egypt’s CIB was Africa’s biggest mover in the global rankings, climbing 89 places to 407th after increasing Tier 1 capital by 47.8 percent, supported by higher retained earnings.

Capital gains from expansion

The list comes as Nigerian banks begin to reap the rewards of a recapitalisation drive that has seen the industry raise about N4.65 trillion ($3.24 billion) in fresh capital since March 2024. The Central Bank of Nigeria requires international banks to maintain a minimum capital base of N500 billion ($345 million) by March 31, 2026, while national and regional banks must hold N200 billion ($138 million) and N50 billion ($34.5 million), respectively.

Access became the first lender to meet the N500 billion ($345 million) threshold after raising N351 billion ($242 million) through a rights issue in December 2024.

Speaking during the group’s 2024 investor call, Roosevelt Ogbonna, group managing director of Access Bank, said much of the capital raised had already been deployed to finance the acquisition of Standard Chartered’s subsidiaries across Africa.

‘We have consistently stated that our capital raise had nothing to do with the Central Bank’s directive requiring banks to raise their minimum capital,’ Ogbonna said. ‘The raise was designed to support the investment phase of our strategy. The capital was deployed immediately, and its impact is already visible, including the acquisition of Standard Chartered’s five African subsidiaries.’

In 2023, the group, which operates in nearly 20 African markets, agreed to acquire Standard Chartered’s businesses in Angola, Cameroon, The Gambia and Sierra Leone, as well as the Consumer, Private and Business Banking business in Tanzania. By November 2024, it had completed the acquisitions in Angola and Sierra Leone.

It also completed the acquisition of National Bank of Kenya from KCB Group last year, acquired a 76 percent majority stake in Mauritius-based AfrAsia Bank, and finalised the purchase of Standard Chartered’s consumer banking operations in Tanzania and its subsidiary in The Gambia.

Its pan-African expansion strategy is also reshaping the group’s earnings profile. According to the company’s latest investor presentation, Nigeria contributed 37 percent of pre-tax profit between January and September 2025, down from 61 percent during the same period in 2023. Contributions from African subsidiaries rose to 35 percent from 18 percent, while the UK and other international businesses increased to 28 percent from 21 percent.

‘We are creating real value and long-term wealth through our subsidiary operations,’ Ogbonna said, noting that the group had invested about $1.2 billion across its African subsidiaries.

Ayokunle Olubunmi, head of financial institutions ratings at Agusto and Co., told BusinessDay that the strategy was helping diversify earnings away from Nigeria’s volatile macroeconomic environment.

‘Given the exposure of its business to Nigeria’s macroeconomic environment, Access is deliberately diversifying its income base,’ he said. ‘Expanding into countries with stronger sovereign ratings helps reduce the group’s overall risk profile.’

The expansion has coincided with the retreat of international lenders from Africa. Over the past decade, banks including Barclays, HSBC and Société Générale have exited or scaled back operations across the continent, creating acquisition opportunities for regional lenders.

The strategy, however, has weighed on the bank’s brand value. Brand Finance’s latest Africa Banking 200 report showed Access Bank’s brand value declined 3.9 percent to $538 million in 2026 from $559.2 million a year earlier, although it retained its position as Nigeria’s most valuable banking brand.

‘Access Bank’s rapid expansion via bolt-on acquisitions necessitates significant short-term outlays,’ said Babatunde Odumeru, managing director of Brand Finance Nigeria. ‘Managing a disparate portfolio of brand architectures across diverse markets can temporarily dilute brand equity and strain capital efficiency as the group works to harmonise its global operations.’

Beyond Nigeria, The Banker noted that Africa’s banking industry continues to outperform its global peers despite its relatively small size. Although the continent accounts for about one-fifth of the world’s population, African banks represent less than 1 percent of the Tier 1 capital of the world’s 1,000 largest lenders.

Yet the publication said the continent’s biggest banks continue to ‘punch above their weight’, with aggregate profit and Tier 1 capital growth well above the average for the global Top 1000. All 33 African banks in this year’s rankings increased their Tier 1 capital in dollar terms, with lenders in Nigeria, South Africa and Morocco benefiting from the weaker US dollar during 2025.

Apapa Bulk Terminal (ABT), a subsidiary of Flour Mills of Nigeria, has expanded its investment in maritime capacity development by sponsoring overseas training for Nigerian maritime pilots, as private operators increasingly complement government efforts to improve safety and efficiency at the country’s ports.

The company said it funded a week-long specialised training programme at the Solent University/Warsash Maritime Academy in the United Kingdom for eight maritime pilots in collaboration with Atlantic Bulk Carriers Management Limited (ABCML).

Maritime pilots play a critical role in navigating large vessels through Nigeria’s often congested port channels, making their competence central to reducing navigational risks, vessel delays and marine accidents.

According to ABT, the programme exposed participants to advanced ship-handling techniques, including tug manoeuvring and speed management, skills intended to improve pilotage operations in Nigerian waters.

Echendu Nwobi James, one of the beneficiaries and a pilot with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), said the training provided practical experience that has enhanced his day-to-day operations.

Beyond pilot training, the terminal operator said it has supported several maritime institutions and security agencies through capacity-building initiatives, including sponsorship of labour and maritime development programmes, assistance to the Nigerian Maritime Professionals Association (NIMEPA), logistics support for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), and operational support for the Nigerian Navy.

Industry stakeholders have repeatedly identified human capital development as one of the areas requiring sustained investment to improve the competitiveness of Nigeria’s ports, alongside infrastructure upgrades and digitalisation.

ABT, incorporated in 2005 as part of Flour Mills of Nigeria, operates Terminals A and B (Berths 1-5) at the Apapa Port Complex under a concession agreement with the Nigerian Ports Authority. The company provides bulk cargo handling, warehousing, storage, ship repair support and multimodal cargo distribution services.

The company’s latest investment comes as Nigeria continues efforts to modernise port operations and strengthen maritime safety in line with international standards.

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday struck out a suit filed by Rotimi Amaechi, former Rivers State governor and ex-Minister of Transportation, challenging the emergence of Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik struck out the suit after Amaechi’s counsel, Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), informed the court that the matter had been settled and that an application to discontinue the case had already been filed.

Okutepa urged the court to strike out the suit, a request that was granted by the judge.

Amaechi had asked the court to nullify the ADC presidential primary held on May 25, arguing that the exercise violated provisions of the Electoral Act 2026, the party’s constitution and its guidelines for the conduct of primary elections ahead of the 2027 general election.

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1215/2026, Amaechi sued Atiku Abubakar, the ADC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as defendants.

He sought an order setting aside the outcome of the primary, restraining Atiku from presenting himself as the ADC presidential candidate for the 2027 election and preventing INEC from recognising his nomination.

The former governor also asked the court to compel the ADC to conduct a fresh presidential primary within 14 days in compliance with the Electoral Act, the party’s constitution and its election guidelines.

In an affidavit supporting the suit, Amaechi said he was a registered member of the ADC in Ward 8, Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, and that he had duly purchased the party’s nomination form, passed the screening process and participated in the presidential primary.

According to him, the results released by the party on May 27 showed Atiku polling 1,846,370 votes to emerge winner, while he secured 504,177 votes to place second. Mohammed Hayatu-Deen was credited with 177,120 votes.

Amaechi alleged that the primary election was conducted in breach of the Electoral Act, the ADC constitution and the party’s guidelines.

He argued that the party failed to use its membership register for accrediting delegates during the exercise, contrary to statutory requirements, and instead relied on provisions contained in its election guidelines.

The former minister further alleged that the final declaration of results was unsigned, undated and did not contain the names or signatures of members of the election committee or his accredited agents.

He told the court that after requesting certified copies of the membership register allegedly used for the primary, the party’s National Organising Secretary informed him that no membership register was used during the exercise.

Amaechi said he subsequently petitioned the party’s presidential appeal committee and later wrote to the ADC National Chairman, David Mark, after the committee failed to communicate its decision.

According to him, the party’s failure to address his complaints prompted him to seek judicial intervention.

However, with the withdrawal of the suit following an out-of-court settlement, the Federal High Court struck out the case, bringing the legal challenge to an end.

Nigerian food commerce startup Bango has launched Shopr by Bango, a new price transparency platform designed to help consumers compare food prices and connect with verified sellers, as households continue to grapple with rising food costs and uneven market pricing across the country.

The platform expands Bango’s community-driven pricing model, which allows users to share real-time prices of staple food items from markets across Nigeria.

By aggregating pricing information directly from buyers and sellers, the startup aims to reduce information gaps that often leave consumers paying widely varying prices for the same products.

According to the company, Shopr by Bango goes beyond price comparison by enabling users to identify trusted suppliers and purchase food items at competitive prices, creating what it describes as a more efficient food commerce ecosystem for households, retailers, and bulk buyers.

‘Food pricing in Nigeria remains highly fragmented, and many consumers lack access to reliable information before making purchasing decisions. Our goal is to simplify how people discover fair prices while improving access to trusted sellers and suppliers,’ Caleb Adenegan, co-founder of Bango, said.

According to him, the platform currently focuses on major household staples and fresh food commodities, with initial operations centred in Abuja while the company strengthens its logistics and supply coordination ahead of expansion into other markets.

Bango also unveiled plans for Bango Market Day, an initiative that seeks to aggregate consumer demand to facilitate bulk purchases directly from farmers, producers and distributors. The startup said the model could lower food costs for consumers while improving market access for suppliers.

The launch comes at a time when Nigeria continues to battle elevated food inflation, with consumers facing sharp price variations for essential commodities across different markets.

The lack of transparent pricing has increasingly become a concern for households and small businesses, prompting calls for greater accountability within the food distribution chain.

In response to concerns over exploitative pricing practices, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) had earlier deployed operatives to formal and informal markets across the country, including Abuja, Lagos and Rivers states, to investigate alleged price-fixing, unfair inflation of food prices and anti-competitive market practices.

The commission said it is targeting market associations and cartels accused of preventing farmers from selling directly to consumers, fixing commodity prices and restricting market access for traders. It has also warned that it will not tolerate the continued increase in prices of goods, describing the trend as unfair to consumers.

The technology-enabled platforms such as Shopr could complement regulatory efforts by improving market transparency and giving consumers access to verified price information before making purchasing decisions.

As it scales operations, Bango said it will continue investing in price verification, supplier partnerships and logistics infrastructure, with the long-term goal of building a more transparent and efficient food commerce ecosystem across Nigeria.

Nigerian banks are beginning to reap the rewards of recapitalisation and years of pan-African expansion, with four lenders emerging among Africa’s 10 fastest-growing banks by Tier 1 capital in The Banker’s 2026 Top 1000 World Banks rankings.

An analysis by BusinessDay of the latest rankings shows that Access Holdings, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), United Bank for Africa (UBA), and Zenith Bank accounted for four of the continent’s top 10 lenders by capital growth in 2025, highlighting how stronger capital positions, cross-border acquisitions and a stabilising domestic economy are reshaping Nigeria’s banking landscape.

Access, Nigeria’s largest banking group by assets, topped the continental ranking after growing its Tier 1 capital by 60.9 percent to $2.46 billion-the biggest increase recorded by any African lender. Egypt’s Commercial International Bank (CIB) followed with a 47.8 percent rise to $3.91 billion, while GTBank ranked third with a 40.2 percent increase. UBA placed sixth and Zenith Bank ninth, giving Nigeria the largest representation in Africa’s top 10 fastest-growing lenders.

The rankings reinforce Nigeria’s emergence as one of Africa’s fastest-growing banking markets. While South Africa remains the continent’s largest banking hub by assets and capital, Nigerian lenders are increasingly setting the pace for growth through recapitalisation, stronger earnings and regional expansion.

‘Nigerian banks similarly march up this year’s rankings, taking advantage of a stabilising economy and the dollar’s weakness,’ The Banker said.

The UK-based banking and financial intelligence publication attributed Access Holdings’ performance to the final phase of its aggressive acquisition strategy, noting that the lender recorded ‘the continent’s largest annual increase in Tier 1 capital’ after completing the acquisitions of National Bank of Kenya and several Standard Chartered subsidiaries across Africa.

Zenith Bank also climbed 55 places to 526th globally after increasing its Tier 1 capital by 29.1 percent. However, The Banker said the lender narrowly trailed GTBank in its Nigerian performance rankings, with GTBank scoring higher on operational efficiency, asset quality and financial soundness.

Outside Nigeria, Egypt’s CIB emerged as Africa’s biggest mover, climbing 89 places in the global rankings after increasing Tier 1 capital by 47.8 percent, driven largely by higher retained earnings.

Tier 1 capital is regarded as the strongest measure of a bank’s financial health because it consists mainly of common equity and retained earnings that can absorb losses during periods of financial stress. Under the Basel III framework, regulators use it to assess a bank’s resilience and capital strength.

The list also revealed that years of expansion by Nigerian lenders are beginning to translate into stronger balance sheets and greater regional influence.

Recapitalisation powers expansion

The performance follows the completion of Nigeria’s banking recapitalisation exercise, which saw lenders raise more than N4.65 trillion ($3.24 billion) in fresh capital to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s new minimum capital requirements. The framework sets minimum capital thresholds of N500 billion ($345 million) for international banks, N200 billion ($138 million) for national banks and N50 billion ($34.5 million) for regional lenders.

The exercise which ended in four months ago, is said to be one of the country’s biggest in two decades.

Access became the first lender to exceed the new threshold after raising N351 billion ($242 million) through a rights issue.

Speaking during the group’s 2024 investor call, Roosevelt Ogbonna, group managing director of Access Bank, said the capital raise was designed to fund expansion rather than simply comply with regulatory requirements.

‘We have consistently stated that our capital raise had nothing to do with the Central Bank’s directive requiring banks to raise their minimum capital,’ Ogbonna said. ‘The capital was deployed immediately, and its impact is already visible.’

A significant portion of the proceeds financed the acquisition of Standard Chartered’s subsidiaries in Angola, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and The Gambia, alongside National Bank of Kenya and a majority stake in Mauritius-based AfrAsia Bank, further strengthening Access’s position as one of Africa’s most geographically diversified banking groups.

The expansion is already reshaping the group’s earnings profile. Nigeria’s contribution to Access Holdings’ pre-tax profit fell to 37 percent between January and September 2025 from 61 percent two years earlier, while African subsidiaries nearly doubled their contribution to 35 percent. The UK and other international businesses accounted for the remaining 28 percent.

The same trend is emerging across other Nigerian lenders.

Zenith, which recently completed a capital raise of more than N350 billion ($242 million), has set an ambitious target of generating about half of its profits outside Nigeria over the medium term. The lender has expanded into Côte d’Ivoire and is pursuing licences in Ethiopia and Kenya as it seeks to diversify earnings beyond its home market.

GTCO, the parent company of GTBank has also completed the capital raise of its flagship banking subsidiary after raising more than N209 billion ($144 million) in its first fundraising phase, followed by a N10 billion ($6.9 million) private placement.

Similarly, UBA raised N178.3 billion ($123 million) through a rights issue after an earlier N239 billion ($165 million) capital injection, pushing its capital base above the regulatory threshold ahead of the deadline.

For analysts, the recapitalisation exercise is changing not only the size of Nigerian banks but also their strategic direction.

Ayokunle Olubunmi, head of financial institutions ratings at Agusto and Co., said Nigerian lenders are deliberately reducing their dependence on the domestic economy.

‘Given the exposure of their businesses to Nigeria’s macroeconomic environment, banks are deliberately diversifying their income base,’ he said. ‘Operating in countries with stronger sovereign ratings also helps reduce overall risk.’

The strategy has also been supported by the retreat of international lenders from Africa. Over the past decade, global banks including Barclays, HSBC and Société Générale have exited or scaled back operations across the continent, creating acquisition opportunities for well-capitalised regional players.

Mobifoluwa Adesina, senior research and consulting analyst at Afrinvest West Africa, said the recapitalisation exercise has placed greater emphasis on deploying fresh capital efficiently.

‘Banks are trying to deploy capital more efficiently to generate stable and sustainable returns as Nigeria remains a volatile market amid ongoing reforms,’ he said. ‘Expanding across Africa allows lenders to diversify earnings, spread risk and position themselves for long-term growth.’

Africa’s banks punch above their weight

Beyond Nigeria, The Banker said Africa’s banking industry continues to outperform global peers despite its relatively small size.

Although the continent is home to about one-fifth of the world’s population, African banks account for less than one percent of the Tier 1 capital held by the world’s 1,000 largest lenders.

Yet the publication said Africa’s biggest banks continue to ‘punch above their weight’, recording aggregate profit and Tier 1 capital growth well above the global average. All 33 African banks included in this year’s rankings increased their Tier 1 capital in dollar terms, with lenders in Nigeria, South Africa and Morocco benefiting from the weaker US dollar during 2025.

The findings point to a broader shift in African banking. While South Africa remains the continent’s largest banking market by assets, Nigeria is increasingly emerging as its fastest-growing. The recapitalisation programme, coupled with years of regional expansion, is producing larger and better-capitalised lenders capable of competing across multiple African markets.

Oil prices are on course early Friday for their strongest weekly performance since April as renewed conflict between the United States and Iran disrupted the recovery of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and pushed crude prices to their highest levels in more than a month.

In Asian trading, both major benchmarks extended gains for a fourth consecutive session after the US launched another round of military strikes on Iranian targets overnight.

International benchmark Brent crude rose 1 percent to $85.06 per barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) climbed 1.2 percent to $79.88 per barrel.

The gains put crude prices on track for a weekly increase of about 12 per cent, marking the largest one-week advance since April and reversing much of the decline recorded in recent weeks.

Earlier in the week, Brent crude briefly traded above $86 per barrel as tensions between Washington and Tehran intensified following attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Among the incidents were attacks on two UAE-managed oil supertankers transiting the southern shipping lane near Oman, an area widely considered to be within the security corridor monitored by US naval forces.

The renewed escalation has effectively halted what had been a gradual recovery in tanker movements through the Strait following earlier diplomatic efforts aimed at restoring normal trade flows.

Rather, shipping traffic through the waterway has slowed sharply as vessel operators reassess security risks and insurers increase scrutiny of voyages through the region.

The latest round of hostilities has included nightly US military strikes on Iranian targets in response to Tehran’s attacks on commercial shipping, alongside the reinstatement of a US naval blockade in the Gulf of Oman designed to restrict Iranian crude exports.

The blockade represents Washington’s latest effort to limit Iran’s oil export capabilities as relations between both countries continue to deteriorate.

The conflict widened further on Thursday after US forces struck and disabled an Iran-linked sanctioned tanker operating near Kharg Island, Iran’s principal crude export terminal in the Persian Gulf.

The move is being interpreted by market participants as an indication that Washington may be broadening the scope of its enforcement activities beyond the Strait of Hormuz itself.

According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), American forces launched precision strikes early Friday against dozens of Iranian military installations for the sixth consecutive night.

The targets reportedly included coastal surveillance systems, air defence positions, logistics facilities and maritime infrastructure.

‘At the Commander in Chief’s direction, CENTCOM is further degrading Iranian military capabilities and holding Iran accountable for recent attacks on commercial shipping,’ the US military said in a statement.

The renewed military activity comes as hopes for a lasting ceasefire between Washington and Tehran continue to fade.

Analysts said the breakdown of negotiations is increasing concerns over crude availability from the Middle East and adding a significant geopolitical premium to oil markets.

The Strait of Hormuz remains the world’s most important oil transit route, handling close to 20 per cent of global oil consumption and a substantial share of global liquefied natural gas exports.

Any prolonged disruption to shipping through the waterway is therefore likely to have immediate implications for global energy markets.

Concerns are also growing over the potential expansion of the crisis to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another critical shipping route linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

Reports suggest Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen are awaiting instructions from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) regarding possible actions affecting shipping through the route.

The Bab el-Mandeb has become increasingly important for Saudi crude exports through the Red Sea as producers seek alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz.

Disruptions at both maritime chokepoints would significantly affect global oil trade flows and further tighten supply conditions.

The impact of the latest developments is already becoming visible in oil market fundamentals.

Earlier this week, the Brent futures curve moved sharply into backwardation, with prompt crude contracts trading at a sizeable premium to longer-dated deliveries, signalling expectations of tighter near-term supply.

For oil-exporting countries such as Nigeria, crude prices above $85 per barrel provide support for government revenues, export earnings and foreign exchange inflows, particularly as prices remain well above the Federal Government’s 2026 budget benchmark of $64.85 per barrel.

However, higher oil prices could also increase fuel and transportation costs globally and add inflationary pressure to importing economies if the disruptions persist.

Market attention is now firmly focused on developments around Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, with traders closely watching tanker movements and military activity for signs of either further escalation or a return to diplomacy.