By Suara Sherif
NIBSS Managing Director Premier Oiwoh has a blunt message for Nigeria’s banks: the N4.65 trillion raised in fresh capital wasn’t meant to sit idle — it must power small businesses, agriculture, manufacturing, and infrastructure.
Speaking at the West Africa International Banking Dialogue and Awards Gala 2026 in Lagos — represented by Stephen Ohiomoba — Oiwoh revealed that domestic investors supplied nearly 75 per cent of the N4.65 trillion raised by 33 banks.
“The new capital our banks have raised was not raised for its own sake,” Ohiomoba declared, outlining three priorities to 2030: deploy capital for impact, harden resilience and compliance, and squeeze more value from shared financial infrastructure.
On that front, NIBSS’s National Payment Stack has already processed over 100 million successful transactions as of September 2026, with ISO 20022 standards sharpening reconciliation and risk analysis.
The spotlight fell on FirstBank’s Lagos headquarters, where MD/CEO Olusegun Alebiosu demanded stronger collaboration across the industry.
TAB Global President Foo Boon Ping posed the question hanging over the sector: will banks back SMEs, or keep favouring government securities? Better data, he argued, could help banks lend smarter.
Wema Bank’s Omowunmi Odumusi warned that fintechs once fed by bank infrastructure are now fierce rivals — and partnerships alone won’t shield market share.
