A Win For Dr. Adesola Adeduntan As President Buhari Congratulates FBN On 40 Years Of Cross-Border Banking In UKPublished 2 mins ago on November 9, 2022By Business Echo Magazine *894# USSD Olushola Okunlade Writes President Muhammad Buhari extends warm felicitations to the Board, Management, and Staff of First Bank Nigeria (FBN) for cross-border services in the United Kingdom for 40 years, sharing almost 130 years of banking experience. President Buhari notes the competence and professionalism that have become the hallmark of the Dr. Adesola Adeduntan-led FBN over many years, winning and retaining the trust of customers in Nigeria, and beyond, like in the United Kingdom, and successfully consolidating on its benchmark of reliability and professionalism. *894# USSD Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, MD/CEO, FirstBank of Nigeria. Adeduntan has experience in a variety of fields, including information technology, compliance, treasury and performance management, strategy creation, and financial and risk management, all of which helped him prepare for his present position as the president of Nigeria’s top financial institution. As the FBN, United Kingdom celebrates 40 years anniversary, the President believes the strength and buoyancy of any country depend largely on the capacity of the banking sector, extolling the organization for steady rise and expansion, with remarkable awards for transparency, accountability, and reliability. In 2019, the Southern Swamp Associated Gas Solutions project was commissioned, and the SPDC JV is planning to reduce associated gas flaring further through its Forcados Yokri gas-gathering project, of which large parts are set to be completed in 2022. Despite such efforts to reduce continuous flaring, unfortunately flaring intensity (the amount of gas flared for every tonne of oil and gas produced) at both SPDC- and SNEPCo-operated facilities increased in 2021 owing to short-term operational issues. Flaring from SPDC-operated facilities increased by around 5% in 2021 compared with 2020. The increase was primarily because of the extended outage of the gas compression system in SPDC’s shallow-water operations. The system was restored and became operational from January 2022. Flaring at SNEPCo-operated facilities rose by around 160% in 2021 compared with 2020. This was mainly because of an increase in flaring on the Bonga floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. Repairs to a flex-joint on the Bonga FPSO’s gas export riser in the second quarter took longer than expected, in part because of weather conditions. While repairs were under way, the FPSO continued to produce oil and therefore flaring was necessary for safety reasons. The repairs were safely concluded in July 2021. Although flaring intensity levels rose in 2021, SPDC and SNEPCo over the last 10 years have almost halved the combined amount of hydrocarbons they flare from 1.5 million tonnes in 2012 to 0.8 million tonnes in 2021. This reduction is the result of a strict flaring reduction management process and both SPDC and SNEPCo will continue to work in close collaboration with joint-venture partners and the government to make progress towards ending routine flaring of associated gas. NIGERIA LNG EXPANSION UNDERWAY Global demand for LNG continues to grow as the world increasingly seeks reliable supplies of lowercarbon energy. Shell’s investment in Nigeria’s gas infrastructure for export is expected to help 6 This is according to a data provided by global research and consultancy business Wood Mackenzie. the country benefit further from revenues. Shell Gas B.V. and its partners took a final investment decision in 2020 on a new LNG processing unit – known as Train 7 -- at NLNG. The expansion is expected to create around 12,000 jobs for Nigerians during construction and stimulate growth of the local oil and gas service sector, with 55% of engineering and procurement of goods and services being sourced in-country. Train 7 is expected to ensure Nigeria’s continued place as a global player in a lower-carbon energy source. Once operational, Train 7 will add around 8 million tonnes per annum of capacity to the Bonny Island LNG facility, taking the total production to around 30 million tonnes per annum. In 2021, NLNG began awarding procurement and construction contracts. Early works started at the site. The first phase of the worker village is expected to be ready for occupancy in 2022 and the new material offloading facility ready for use by the end of 2022. NLNG’s Train 7 is expected to come onstream in the middle of the 2020s. KEY LICENCE RENEWED FOR DEEP-WATER SNEPCo has interests in four deep-water blocks in the Gulf of Guinea, two of which it operates. Today, nearly one-third of Nigeria’s deep-water oil and gas production comes from the Bonga and the nonoperated Erha fields.6 Since production began in 2005, Bonga alone has produced more than 950 million barrels of oil with the 2021 average oil production per day at 105,000 barrels. The Bonga FPSO vessel has a total production capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil per day and 150 standard cubic feet of gas export per day. In 2021, the availability of the FPSO vessel increased to 80% from 70% in 2020. In addition to Bonga, SNEPCo’s exploration activities have led to several significant discoveries of oil and gas over the last two decades, including the Bolia and Doro fields (Shell interest 55%). Nigeria Briefing Notes Helping to power Nigeria’s economy 13 In the right investment climate, SNEPCo believes that there are opportunities to expand. In 2021 the OML 118 (Bonga) production sharing contract was renewed and the lease extended for 20 years. Bonga North and Bonga South West Aparo (BSWA) oil fields are two such potential opportunities. Bonga North is a proposed tie-back project to the existing Bonga FPSO with Phase 1 comprising 14 wells. BSWA is a development of a new FPSO with Phase 1 comprising 23 wells. SUPPORTING RENEWABLE ENERGY STARTUPS Millions of Nigerians are excluded from the country’s power grid and Shell Companies in Nigeria have established and provided substantial funding for a not-for-profit, impact-investing company called All On. Operating as an independent company, All On works to bring reliable electricity – often from renewable energy sources -- to off-grid urban and rural customers. This support aims to build a solid pipeline of viable businesses that can create the scale required to address Nigeria’s access to energy gap. In December 2019, SPDC and SNEPCo made a significant additional 10-year financing commitment of $160 million in All On, bringing the total commitment to $200 million. By the end of 2021, All On had provided investment capital to over 40 renewable energy start-ups in its portfolio – an increase of more than 30% from 2020. One such company is Infibranches Technologies Limited, to which All On has committed $2 million, which is expected to enable the indigenous technology company to expand sales of solar home systems via its more than 13,000 agent banking partners across Nigeria. With the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, the All On Hub was established in 2020 to provide nonfinancial support and build the capabilities of off-grid energy entrepreneurs. In 2021, the hub supported 81 ventures – nearly double the 41 supported in 2020. Also in 2021, All On, Odyssey Energy Solutions and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet launched a $10 million equipment financing facility as part of the DART pilot programme in Nigeria. 7 Hydraulic flying leads support the delivery of hydraulic fluid and/or chemicals between subsea equipment. 8 Subsea trees are an assembly of valves and other components used to monitor and control the production of a subsea well. DART will combine demand pooling, aggregated purchasing of solar equipment, and access to affordable finance to unlock economies of scale for solar companies, achieve cost savings for end-users, and accelerate the growth of the renewable energy sector in Nigeria and beyond. DEVELOPING LOCAL CONTENT AND SKILLS Shell Companies in Nigeria contribute to the growth of Nigerian businesses that can provide technical and support services to the industry. This includes the manufacture of tools and technical kits, the operation of helicopter flights in the Niger Delta, and strategic partnerships between foreign and local companies to stimulate technology transfer and capacity development. While there are government-required programmes in some areas, such as the Nigerian and Community Content Strategy embedded in the Assa North/Ohaji South gas development project, Shell Companies in Nigeria deliberately seek to contract local businesses wherever possible. In 2021, Shell Companies in Nigeria awarded $800 million worth of contracts to Nigerian-registered companies. Of these, 92% were companies with at least 51% Nigerian ownership. SNEPCo has awarded major engineering and construction contracts to companies that are indigenous, have local staff, or possess domestic capabilities in the country. At present, the manufacture and rebuild of hydraulic flying leads7 (HFLs) is being carried out in-country by wholly indigenous companies. Pressure Controls Systems Nigeria Limited, another Nigerian company, continues to refurbish old subsea trees.8 Sometimes, a lack of access to capital hinders Nigerian companies from competing for and executing contracts effectively. Shell Companies in Nigeria have provided access to nearly $1.6 billion in loans to 901 Nigerian vendors under the Shell Contractor Support Fund since 2012. These loans help improve their tendering opportunities. Even though most CEOs today seem to understand their competitive positions, the majority of them are concerned that new competitors, such as well-established international technology companies and Fintech, may decide to use their highly developed customer insights to undermine the customer relationship models. President Buhari congratulates FBN, the United Kingdom for the milestone, and well-deserved acceptance and credence, urging the bank to further leverage its strengths to retain the trust and confidence of the banking public. However, First Bank has made sure to maintain the confidence built up over the years with its enduring history of safety and security under the direction of Adeduntan.
ALAT By Wema, the first fully digitalized bank in Nigeria, has been named the Overall Best Mobile App in the Nigerian FinTech Awards 2022, beating the other FinTech apps nominated alongside it in the category in the platform’s shortlist.
The announcement was made at the award ceremony in Lagos, on Friday 4 November 2022.
In its 10th year, the Nigerian Fintech Awards was founded by Fintech Africa, one of Africa’s oldest and most influential publications on financial technology to honour excellence in product designs and service delivery in financial technologies. The Overall Best Mobile App, won by ALAT By Wema, according to the organizers, is in recognition of the digital bank’s contribution to the Fintech world.
ALAT By Wema, the first fully digital bank in Nigeria, was launched in May 2017 by Wema Bank Plc, the country’s oldest indigenous commercial bank, to drive transformation and redefine experiential banking in Nigeria’s banking sector. In its first year, ALAT by Wema gained over 250,000 customers who were responsible for well over NGN 1.6 billion ($4.48m) in deposits. In 2018, the bank closed at the N1 billion ($2.78m) mark in terms of deposits into savings accounts.
Olusegun Adeniyi Chief Digital Officer, Wema Bank expressed his joy at the award, saying that the honour is only the icing on the cake of transformation that ALAT By Wema has brought to the banking industry in Nigeria.
“We are delighted at being named the Overall Best Mobile App by the august platform, which is dedicated to honoring excellence in financial technologies and services companies and products. The award is complimentary to the excitement that the multi-award-winning app has brought to its numerous individual and corporate subscribers.”
He informed that ALAT By Wema, which matches customers’ lifestyles, is helping its subscribers save more with access to exclusive group and personal savings, free debit cards, and up to four percent annual interest in savings.
Adeniyi said that since its launch in May 2017, ALAT By Wema, the branchless and paperless bank has reduced the stress of having to walk into a branch to open an account by providing a seamless sign-up process using a mobile phone, PC, or tablet. The ALAT By Wema app, unlike other banking apps, provides all the banking services the customer could ask for.
“All banking apps only offer some banking services, typically airtime purchases, bill payments, and transfers. For example, even with a banking app, customers usually still need to go to a physical bank to get a debit card and activate it, submit documents, and often, get some kind of customer support. This is not the case with ALAT, which was built from scratch to be entirely digital, making all banking services available to the customers anywhere they can access the internet.”

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