“Nigeria’s leading financial institution, Sterling Bank Plc, has reiterated its determination to empower and energise the creative industry because of its strategic importance to the economic growth of Nigeria.”

Head of Media and Entertainment Financing at Sterling Bank, Mr. Olanrewaju Olalusi, disclosed the above at the weekend in Lagos while addressing participants at a seminar organised by the Legends of Nollywood with the theme: “Empowering the Nigerian Film Industry – Actualising Your Resources.”

He said the bank had begun exploring financing of the creative industries in addition to its HEART sectors programme because of its importance to the national economy.

Sterling Bank has become renowned for its strategic focus and investments in the Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Transportation sectors of the Nigerian economy. These sectors have been affectionately dubbed the HEART of Sterling, and our HEART has contributed immensely to the growth of the bank, the sectors and the Nigerian economy.

Olalusi said it is important for artists to leverage funding from financial institutions to scale the level of their operations, remarking that the bank has set up a desk for the purpose of financing practitioners in the creative industry, information technology (IT) and animation, among others.

“We are open to having conversations with partners in the creative industry on the way forward” he said.

He said that the industry was bustling with amazing talent and potential. But he highlighted a key challenge confronting the industry; a lack of viable business plans on the commercial perspective of creativity to show investors.

He continued by saying that there is a growing need for artists to separate their businesses from themselves and focus on improving their access to infrastructure and a ready market for their creative expressions.

Through collaborations with dedicated partners like Sterling, creatives can better their lot, both creatively and commercially, by leveraging financial advisory services, commercial loans, and other specially designed products to further capacity building and move the industry forward.

In a keynote address by Lagos State Commissioner of Planning and Budget, Mr. Samuel Egube, urged operators in the creative industry to think more deeply about how to seize available opportunities in the industry.

He noted that if the industry must grow, then it should be able to attract financial resources from investors, adding that government alone cannot drive the growth in the industry.

He said the business plan should present a strong case to encourage investors to invest. He disclosed that the Lagos State Government has plans to build a media city in the Lekki axis for practitioners in the creative industry to leverage on under its 30-year development plan.

Also speaking, the President of the Association of Movie Producers, Mr. Paul Obazele encouraged his colleagues to lift the industry to a show business level by leveraging financial institutions to scale their operations instead of relying on grants alone.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released an official statement last night to the effect that the old N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes shall remain legal tender till December 31, 2023.

Below is the CBN statement signed by Dr. Isa AbdulMumin, Acting Director, Corporate Communications:

In compliance with the established tradition of obedience to court orders and sustenance of the Rule of Law Principle that characterized the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, and by extension, the operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as a regulator, Deposit Money Banks operating in Nigeria have been directed to comply with the Supreme Court judgement of March 3, 2023.

Accordingly, the CBN met with the Bankers’ Committee and has directed that the old N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes remain legal tender alongside the redesigned banknotes till December 31, 2023.

Consequently, all concerned are directed to conform accordingly.

A call has gone to organisations operating across all sectors in the country to create opportunities that empower women to fulfill their full potential for the good of society.

The call was made by CEO of Digital Jewels, Adedoyin Odunfa while speaking as a Guest Speaker at the Webinar organised by Polaris Bank Limited themed: Advancing Women Empowerment through the Adoption of Technological Innovation and Digital Education to mark the 2023 International Women’s Day which held in Lagos last week.

Focusing on the IWD 2023 theme: #EmbraceEquity, Odunfa while addressing gender imbalance in the workplace, cited statistics that show that women make up only 46 percent of the workplace and less than 25 percent of them end up in leadership positions.

She pointed out the need to address gender imbalance and prevailing conscious and unconscious biases against women. She also emphasized the need to intentionally empower women with technological innovation rather than just pay lip service to it.

According to Odunfa, one of the ways to create these opportunities is to have more women in the workplace to develop products and services that empower women. She also highlighted the need to intentionally target women for instance, in the design of financial services and products to make them more accessible, affordable, and relevant.

To achieve this, Odunfa called for improved financial literacy and investment in education, as well as training for gender parity in the workplace and marketplace. This sentiment was echoed by two other Panelists at the webinar: Chinyelu Chikwendu, a Director with Vatebra TechHub and Ededayo Durosinmi-Etti, CEO of Herconomy.

Also contributing at the session as a Panelist, Dr. (Mrs.) Amina Sambo-Magaji, an AI specialist, Researcher and Tech policy maker, emphasized the need for collaboration and a system approach to promote gender equality in the digital space.

Dr. Sambo-Magaji, a distinguished Humphrey Fellow, who doubles as a Director at National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) also called for measures to promote women’s participation in all aspects of digital, including technological innovation, and digital governance.

She emphasised the need for policies that actively promote gender equality and empower women to be partners, consumers, and creators of technology and innovation.

Earlier, Polaris Bank’s Group Head, Customer Experience Management & Sustainability, Bukola Oluyadi spoke on why the Bank organised the Webinar.

“The goal of this event is to address the various challenges faced by Women in diverse professions, identify skill gaps needed to be addressed, and how technology, innovation, and digital education can be leveraged to empower the woman so that Gender equity can be felt more in our economy.”

According to Oluyadi, “Polaris Bank is committed to Women Empowerment, and consciously raising awareness on gender equity and ensure that no woman is financially excluded, or is disadvantaged in any way. In her words: “Only 30 percent of commercial banks in Nigeria have over 30 percent female representation on their board and Polaris Bank is one of such banks. The Bank is also supporting women-led businesses with single-digit interest loans in celebrating IWD 2023 and women’s month. The Bank is also driving women empowerment internally by inaugurating its Women’s Network this month”, she disclosed.

Polaris Bank is a future-determining Bank redefining banking products and services that meet the needs of individuals and businesses. The Bank was adjudged Digital Bank of the Year in 2021 and 2022.

The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to a story published in The Nation newspaper of Monday, March 13, 2023 edition, alleging that the Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele has launched a “fresh plot against President-elect.”

The aforementioned story went further to allege that the Governor has made certain amount of money available to a political aspirant ahead of March 18, 2023 gubernatorial poll.

We wish to inform members of the public that this story is completely false and malicious as the Governor does not know and has never met or even spoke with Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour either in person or through proxy.

We wish to reiterate that the CBN Governor does not take part in Politics and therefore urge anyone with contrary information to prove the Governor wrong should provide such facts.

As such the Governor and team at the CBN should be allowed to focus on their assigned job with a view to achieving statutory mandates of the Bank.

Isa Abdulmumin

Acting Director

Corporate Communications

CBN

Ecobank Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has said its workplace is free of bias and gender-based discriminations.

Speaking on the anniversary of International Women’s Day (IWD), Head, Human Resources, Ecobank Nigeria, Adekunle Adewuyi, stated that the bank as a responsible organization, has in place structures for ensuring all women can reach their full potentials and have equal opportunities to men in advancing their careers and achieve promotion in the bank.

Only recently, Ecobank Group, the leading pan-African bank won the highly coveted Best Place to Work in Africa 2022 Award from the Best Place to Work organisation. The Award honours organisations that exhibit the highest standards of excellence in Human Resources (HR) practices and employees’ experience.

According to him, “Female staff are holding strategic leadership and management positions in the organization. We are committed to creating a society and workplace that is free of bias and gender-based discrimination. As part of our IWD 2023 celebrations, we will be organising health screening for our female staff in four different locations including Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja and Port Harcourt. We will also host a Health Talk for female employees, who as at today constitute 51 percent of our workforce.” he stated.

Adewuyi further stated that the choice of this year’s theme #EmbraceEquity was apt, adding that while celebrating women and girls championing transformative technology and digital education, IWD 2023 will also address the impact of the digital gender gap in widening economic and social inequalities.

“It is the responsibility of all of us to make transformative technology and digital education inclusive. At Ecobank, our digital solutions aim to respond to the needs of all our clients, including women and women entrepreneurs. The Ecobank Foundation has partnered with organisations – such as UN Women and the Global Partnership for Education – that leverage on digitalisation to address the gender gap.”

IWD is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women’s rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women.