News
Major Banks May Halt Dividends Till 2028

Access Holdings Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, and First Bank Holdings may suspend dividend payments until 2028, as Nigeria’s top banks confront regulatory pressure to rebuild capital buffers to fully provide for legacy forbearance exposures, according to a new report by Renaissance Capital.
The report, released June 16, follows a directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on June 13, which instructed banks to pause dividends, defer executive bonuses, and halt offshore expansion until they’ve adequately provisioned for forbearance loans and resolved breaches of single obligor limits.
Renaissance analysts say the order could result in a multi-year dividend drought for some of the country’s largest lenders.
“Our base case is that the banking arms of AccessCorp, ZenithBank, and FirstHoldco will not resume dividend payments before 2028,” the note said. “Most of their near-term cash flows will be directed towards absorbing provisioning costs and recapitalisation.”
Although these lenders reported strong accounting profits in 2024 — N635 billion for Access and N867 billion for Zenith — both posted negative cash profits, largely due to unrealised interest income on Stage 2 loans and FX revaluation gains.
FirstHoldco’s cash position also turned negative in Q1 2025, following challenges with a single large non-performing loan.
GTCO, by contrast, fully provisioned its exposures earlier and is expected to maintain uninterrupted dividend payments, supported by positive cash profits of N1.2 trillion in FY24.
UBA is also expected to resume payouts by 2026, given its manageable exposure and steady liquidity.
According to the report, six lenders hold a combined forbearance exposure of $3.5 billion with Zenith Bank being the most exposed.
“We estimate regulatory forbearance exposures at $304 million, $887 million, $134 million, $296 million, $282 million, and $1.6 billion for ACCESSCORP, FIRSTHOLDCO, FCMB, FIDELITYBK, UBA, and ZENITHBANK, respectively,” the report shows.
The dividend suspension comes amid additional strain from the CBN’s move to raise the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to 50 percent, which Renaissance estimates cost the banking sector N840 billion in income last year alone.
With just 20 percent of customer deposits left deployable for lending, analysts warn the capital build-up may not translate into real credit growth.
“The 50% CRR regime is proving more detrimental to banks’ profitability and liquidity,” the analysts said in the report.
”From an operational perspective, a CRR reduction would enhance banking sector liquidity, reduce reliance on commercial paper issuance for liquidity management, and improve overall financial system efficiency.”
Businessday.ng
News
BREAKING: Winner Emerges In Kano Bye-Election As APC, NNPP Lock Horns

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has emerged winner of the Ghari/Tsanyawa supplementary election in Kano state
The returning officer, Professor Muhammad Waziri of Bayero University, declared Garba Ya’u Gwarmai of the APC winner with 31,472 votes
Waziri defeated the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Yusuf Ali Maigado, who polled 27,931 votes
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has secured victory in the Ghari/Tsanyawa supplementary election held in Kano state.
Announcing the results on Sunday morning, August 17, the returning officer (RO), Professor Muhammad Waziri from Bayero University, declared APC candidate Garba Gwarmai the winner with a total of 31,472 votes.
He defeated the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Yusuf Maigado, who polled 27,931 votes, according to The Punch.
The supplementary poll was conducted after the initial election in the constituency was declared inconclusive. With a margin of 3,541 votes, Gwarmai’s victory marks a key win for the APC as the party continues to reinforce its influence across the state.
Meanwhile, the NNPP won the Bagwai/Shanono state assembly by-election in Kano state.
Daily Trust and Vanguard noted this update.
Announcing the result at 12:36 a.m. on Sunday, August 17, the RO for the election, Prof. Hassan Adamu Shitu, declared the NNPP candidate, Ali Hassan Kiyawa, winner with 16,198 votes, defeating the APC candidate, Ahmad Muhammad Kadamu, who polled 5,347 votes.
News
Tinubu’s Government Lacks Effective Communication Strategy - Babangida

Former Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, has said that the administration of President Bola Tinubu is performing well but lacks an effective communication strategy to relay its achievements to Nigerians.
Aliyu made the statement on the Thursday edition of Arise Television’s ‘The Morning Show’, while reacting to the outcome of a recent public accountability session held in Kaduna.
Aliyu, reflecting on the discussions at the Kaduna Forum, said the government is facing public dissatisfaction not because it hasn’t delivered, but because it is failing to tell its own story effectively.
The ex-governor said it is proper for political leaders in the North to make demands from Tinubu’s administration since the bulk of the votes that took power came from the region.
“Let the people understand what is happening on the ground. If by what we say that 63/64 percent of the vote came from the north, it is only logical that the north will be expecting so much from the government.
“But from what we have seen so far is that the government is doing well but they do not know how to communicate very well,” he said.
News
New Twist As El-Rufai Snubs ADC, Announces Another Party To Vote In Kaduna Bye-Election [ Video Trends]

Former Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai, appeared to have taken a reverse from the coalition’s adopted political platform, ADC
This is as the former governor took to social media and asked the people of Zaria, Chikun to vote for another party in the Saturday, August 16 (today), bye-elections in the constituencies in Kaduna
Recall that the former governor recently visited Sokoto to canvass support for the ADC, while criticising President Bola Tinubu and the APC government.
Click to watch El-Rufai’s video here
— Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (@elrufai) August 14, 2025
Nasir El-Rufai, the immediate past governor of Kaduna, has fueled speculations that he dumped the recently adopted coalition political platform, African Democratic Congress (ADC), as he called on the people of Chikun/Kajuru federal constituency and Zaria Kewaye and Basawa state constituency to vote for the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
However, in a dramatic turn, the former governor urged the people of Zaria and Chikun to vote for the SDP in the Saturday, August 16, by-election, a poll which was meant to test the opposition’s strength ahead of the 2027 general election.
Recall that El-Rufai defected to the SDP after dumping the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), but soon after joining the party, the SDP fell into a leadership crisis, and the former governor has been silent on his membership and allegations against him.
El-Rufai recently visited Sokoto on a mission to gather support for the ADC. He described his action as a patriotic one to rescue Nigeria from the grip of ‘nepotism’ and ‘incompetence’.
During his visit to Sokoto, the former governor attended two important events meant to sensitise the people and political stakeholders working to achieve the agenda of sacking President Tinubu and the APC in the next general election.
During his address at the event, the former governor lambasted the ruling party and called them ‘a failed, clannish, and visionless administration that has plunged Nigeria into deeper socio-economic misery’.
He declared that it was time for Nigerians to rise against the APC and accused the party of ‘broken promises and elite conspiracy’. He warned that any move to vote for the APC beyond 2027 would be a greater doom for the country.
However, in a sharp turn, the former governor, in a video posted on his social media page ahead of the by-election, urged the people in the constituencies where the poll will be held in Kaduna on Saturday, August 16, to vote for the SDP rather than the ADC he went to Sokoto to canvass for.
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