By Lydia Ngwakwe

Four Directors of First Nominees, a Subsidiary of FirstBank Nigeria Ltd., have been inducted into the Institute of Directors (IoD), alongside 96 others.

Seven others were also upgraded into different cadre.

The four Directors were inducted into the institute on Thursday night, at Oriental Hotel, Lekki in Lagos.

They are Mr Ramon Olayiwola, Omolade Olawore, Mr Raymond Mgbeokwere and Mr Kunle Olorunfemi.

Speaking on behalf of  the new members, Mgbeokwere thanked the institute for considering them fit and proper in character and qualification to be members.

He also thanked the founding fathers for the role played in investing and bringing the institute alive and standing.

He said that some institutes in Nigeria that were established years back could not stand the test of time.

He, therefore, urged the new members to use their role as directors to create a new sense of nationhood in Nigeria.

““We are joined from today and I like to, on behalf of myself and all other new members, thank you very much for admitting us. We are glad to be here.

“But my remark would speak more to what I think is the role of directors. Most of us know what it is in our various sectors and boards, but I would speak to it about nation building.

“Our country is at a stage where we need all hands on deck to create a new life; a new sense of nationhood in this land.

“This is because we are opportune to work and play in sectors where we have influence, I think we are able to start the correction and the entrenchment of good governance in where we operate.

“That way, if all of us take this back home, we’re able to assemble a good aggregation of people who are bent on entrenching the right things in this nation,” he said.

Mgbeokwere expressed a strong belief that the new members had the capacity to create a new beginning in the country.

He said, “it’s a privilege to grow at work, or to come out to appointment to sit on boards of organisations, being where strategic decisions have been made, and a sense of direction is being created.

“If we muster a good number of people who are committed to entrenching good corporate governance where we work and where we operate, we can also engage the public sector and government itself in bringing the much desired change that we all desire in this nation.”

He urged them not to see the certificates as one other thing added to their library or as one other thing they all have acquired.

Mgbeokwere advised them to rather, think about the sub-committees they signed on to and do the work of introducing thoughts, experiences and things they had garnered over the years.

He also said that this would help to bring about the desired change that the members clamour for.

Earlier in his speech, Chairman, Board of Bank Directors Association of Nigeria, Mr Mustafa Chike-Obi, urged the new members to focus on people to drive innovation in the institute.

Speaking on the theme “Smart Boards, Smarter Thinking: Innovating for Improved Board success”, Chike-Obi said that what drives innovation was people.

He said:  “It is the quality of the membership of the organisation that drives innovation.There is nothing else that does it.

“You can read all the books you want, you can do all the work you want, but eventually, the quality of your people is the driving force for innovation.

“So, please, you are all in senior positions or will be very shortly. Focus on your people. Without people all this talk is talk. They will drive your innovation, they will drive your thinking and they’ll make it reality,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Olawunmi Ashafa

By Lydia Ngwakwe

Access Bank in partnership with AfriGOpay, has launched the first national domestic card designed to meet the needs of the Nigerian payment industry.

Mr Victor Etuokwu, Deputy Managing Director, Retail Banking, Access Bank, said this in a statement on Thursday in Lagos.

Etuokwu said that the scheme, championed by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), would provide innovative solutions to users of financial services in Nigeria, Africa, and across the global markets.

“It is with excitement that we announce that Access Bank, Nigeria’s largest retail bank with over 60 million customers, is the first financial institution in Nigeria to successfully issue the first live card of the Nigeria’s National card scheme- AfriGO.

“The launch of AfriGO is another milestone in the development of a vibrant and rapidly expanding payments industry.

“Consumers demand value in real time, not just transactions. With AfriGO, we can provide valuable card benefits, robust loyalty rewards, and a compelling incentive to utilize electronic payments rather than cash,” he said.

Etuokwu also said the AfriGO Card had additional benefits designed to facilitate the growth of Nigeria’s payment ecosystem, thereby supporting more tailored payment services.

He said it would strengthen payment security, expand financial participation, guarantee data sovereignty, eliminate FX dependency, and provide Nigerians with several other benefits.

This, he said, would allow cardholders to enjoy increased affordability and more flexible payment options.

The statement quoted Mr Robert Giles, Senior Retail Advisor, Access Bank as saying, “the national card scheme will operate locally as it is tailored to the specific needs of the country.

“We have also recorded successful purchases on POS and ATMs which began on March 14, 2023.

“Domestic ownership of a local card scheme eliminates demand on foreign exchange and reduces cost of transacting.

” It will also help us partner with local fintechs and payment companies to build solutions on the AfriGO scheme that solve customers’ pain points,” he said.

He also noted that the national card scheme came a crucial time for the national payments’ infrastructure where demand for convenient alternatives to cash was at a peak.

He said the bank believed that the AfriGO scheme was a new building block that would support continued progress in the payments system, building on Nigeria’s position as the sixth most developed real-time payments market in the world.

It also quoted the Chief Executive Officer of NIBSS, Premier Oiwoh, as saying that the payments landscape in Nigeria has continued to evolve via seamless and convenient real-time electronic payment solutions driven by innovation and advancement in technology.

“The launch of our national domestic card scheme AfriGO is very timely; AfriGO will drive our financial inclusion goals amongst many benefits, and we are thrilled that Access Bank is the first bank in Nigeria to issue AfriGO cards to its customers.

“Access Bank has demonstrated the much-needed commitment to enhancing financial inclusion, and we urge other financial institutions to commence issuing AfriGO for more accessible and convenient payments for all Nigerians, regardless of their location or financial status,” Oiwoh said.

The statement also quoted Aminu Maida, the Executive Director, NIBSS, as saying, ” with technological advancements, there are more options for payments and the recently launched national domestic card scheme, AfriGO gives us assured comfort on all financial transactions.

“We are excited that Access Bank is the first to key into our belief of AfriGO’s immense value to the Nigerian financial ecosystem.”

AfriGOpay is a financial services business affiliated with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

By Lydia Ngwakwe

Speakers at the Access Bank women conference have called for equitable representation of women in the workplace.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference was organised by the bank to mark the 2023 International Women’s Day (IWD) on Thursday in Lagos.

The 2023 IWD had the theme: “Embrace Equity.”

In his keynote speech , Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), said that the bank had the highest percentage of women enterpreneurs in the world.

Adesina said that in many African countries women were responsible for most of the agricultural production.

“Women in businesses are on the rise across the country and have contributed significantly to job creation and economic growth.

“Women are bankable. It is, however, believed that women in Africa continue to face a fallen two billion dollars finance gap. How do we explain that? There is inbuilt gender based biases against women in terms of access to finance,” he said.

Adesina said that as Africa’s premier financial institution, the bank remains committed to empowering women and closing the gender gap in African countries.

He said that the AfDB was making efforts to achieve gender parity across its workforce in the near-term.

“Currently, the overall distribution is 39.5 per cent women and 60.5 per cent of men are going to split to achieve full gender parity at the African Development Bank by 2028.

“We are making significant progress, already 50 per cent of my executive leadership team is made up of women,” Adesina added.

According to him, now is the time for women to take action, raise equity and build a better and more inclusive future.

“By investing in women, we create a ripple effect that positively impacts the entire community,” Adesina said.

In her goodwill message, the wife of the Vice-President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, frowned against the stigmatisation of women in the society.

Osinbajo said that the conference was a forum for women to talk about issues affecting them.

She noted that many women had achieved great heights in the society in spite of the challenges.

“Surely their successes will give validation to the dreams of others; those who are here and those who are online.

“And so for a moment I’ll speak about dreams. What are your dreams? Where are your dreams? Are they very good? Are they burning in your heart to inspire today by all you see around you?

“Step down the doubt. The doubt of faith can I do it? Step down the fear,” Osinbajo said.

She enjoined women to dream big without thinking of limitations as obstacles.

The Minister for women Affairs and Social Development, Pauline Tallen, said that women should be celebrated because of their uniqueness.

Tallen expressed gratitude to the chairman, management and staff of Access Bank for putting up the event to celebrate the uniqueness of women.

She also appreciated the Wife of the Ondo State Governor, Mrs Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, for her support in women emancipation through her non-governmental organisation.

Also speaking, the First Lady of Ondo, Anyanwu-Akeredolu, decried the number of women elected into the National Assembly.

Anyanwu-Akeredolu said that voter intimidation, suppression and electoral violence would deter women from taking part in the electoral process.

According to her, women should learn to speak out against societal ills and be ready to support one another to become the best in life.

She said that if women find themselves at the corridor of power, they should be able to provide WASH facilities for girls in school, especially to take care of themselves during their monthly flow.

She said that no child should be left behind at home without going to school due to lack of sanitary pads.

She added that with the advancement of technology, pregnant woman should not die while giving birth if the right infrastructure and medical care were provided.

In his address of welcome, the Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Access Corporation, Dr Herbert Wigwe, said that the bank was at the forefront of stamping out the discrimination of women in the workplace.

Wigwe said that all hands should be on deck to share the bank’s vision of gender equality and equity.

He expressed gratitude to the chairpersons who had led the bank both in recent past and the current one, adding that the bank experienced tremendous growth under their watch.

Wigwe noted that the theme of equity gives room for all women to thrive above their limitations.

“Equality is society’s destination. Equity will be the root for all of us to get there.

And in such a world, no one is left behind,” Wigwe said

The Group Head of ‘W’ Initiative’s at Access Bank, Mrs Abiodun Olubitan, said that the bank dispensed N40.5 billion worth of loans to women SMEs in 2022.

Olubitan disclosed that the bank had earmarked N100 billion for loans for women SMEs in the current year to enable them boost their businesses.

She said that the theme of the 2023 IWD celebration was apt.

“What we are saying is equality is different from equity .

“So yes, you can give everybody a shoe, both man or woman, but do you give them the shoe that fits them is what equity is talking about.

So, we want to give everybody fairness and equal opportunity to thrive to take advantage of everything available around them, both man and woman,” Olubitan said.

NAN reports that the event was attended by women from all walks of life. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma