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E-Financial

LAPO MFB: A commendable Half Year despite the Pandemic

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By Paul K Adegboyega

Undoubtedly, 2021 – the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic – has been another tough year for many Nigerians especially low-income earners who have limited access to financial services.

LAPO MFB: A commendable Half Year despite the Pandemic

It has also been a difficult year for the microfinance banks (MFBs) which serve this indigent category who have increased difficulty paying back loans since the pandemic started.

Many MFBs are facing serious challenges, some existential, that are threatening their bottom lines and very survival.

Therefore it is commendable to find a microfinance bank that is not only weathering the pandemic’s many disruptions, sustaining critical services to entrepreneurs and low-income earners but also maintaining the rigorous standards that it is well known for.

Within the first six months of 2021, LAPO, Nigeria’s largest MFB has distinguished itself through continued high performance while serving its millions of customers and also responding to the prevailing health and safety challenges.

As the year began, LAPO continued to prioritize the health and safety of its customers and staff through various initiatives including its intensive campaigns promoting pandemic awareness on social media platforms.

It will be recalled that in 2020 LAPO had taken many proactive measures in response to the pandemic.

For instance, it shut down its on-site operations on March 25 2020, ahead of the Federal Government’s own lockdown order and also paused interest payments on its loans for six weeks.

The institution also distributed food and other relief items across Nigeria, made donations to the Edo and Lagos State Governments to support their efforts in addressing the pandemic and sustained its own Covid-19 awareness campaigns on radio stations and online platforms even after resuming on-site operations.

With business activities picking up following the Christmas holidays and amidst great uncertainty about vaccination, new waves of infection, new variants of Covid-19, etc, LAPO also boosted its advocacy efforts to encourage customers and the public to keep taking precautions.

In addition to the usual difficulties of meeting obligations such as paying school fees, house and business rents etc at the beginning of the year, small and medium scale entrepreneurs also face the challenge of acquiring or updating critical business assets.

Therefore it was helpful that LAPO also began the year by promoting a slew of customer-friendly products to the public in the New Year.

Such products include LAPO’s Collateral-free Asset Loans which help people pay for Generators, Tricycles, Refrigerators, Pure Water Machines, Printing Machines and other items often needed by small businesses.

The adverts encouraged business owners to come forward even if the business assets they needed were not among those listed.

The bank also promoted a bouquet of educational loans including the School Fees Loans which provide N20,000 to N200,000 for parents with children in primary school and N50,000 to N500,000 for those with undergraduate wards.

These education loans were timely considering that many parents are finding it difficult to keep their children in school due to lay-offs, failing businesses and other economic hardships related to the pandemic.

LAPO also announced the School Improvement Loan through which it provides much-needed finance to proprietors of low to medium income nursery, primary and secondary schools to help them improve their facilities and equipment.

LAPO continues to offer access to microcredit through these and other unique products such as its My Pikin and I Loan, its Clean Energy Loans, SME Loans, among others.

As a testament to the importance of microcredit and a nod to LAPO’s reputation, the institution was cited by an Arise TV anchor during a February edition of The Morning Show which featured former Governor Peter Obi.

“How do we increase banks like LAPO to get people microcredit to do business?” said the anchor as he discussed economic matters with the former Governor.

On its own, the bank continues to increase access of underserved populations to microcredit as seen in its growing presence across the country.

By February, LAPO announced that it was available in 535 locations across 34 states through which it serves over three million customers.

Also in February, to lift the spirits of its numerous customers and encourage them morally to push through the difficulties of the pandemic, LAPO organised a nationwide celebration in which it gave gifts to customers to mark Valentine’s Day.

LAPO recorded more wins in March as it was awarded ‘The Most Supportive Bank’ national category in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Agricultural Credit Scheme Funds (ACGSF), evidence of its continual support of the Agricultural Sector.

The institution was also commended by the CBN for financing and producing the best farmer in 2020 under the ACGSF. LAPO joined the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) in 2012 to provide credit support to farmers across the country in a sustainable manner. Since then it has disbursed over N27 Billion to over 34,000 farmers and agro-allied operators across Nigeria.

Following the award, LAPO sustained its momentum in March. In building on its culture of providing financial literacy to various key demographics, the institution embarked on campaigns to mark the 2021 Global Money Week from March 22 to 28 which raised awareness on the importance of ensuring that from a young age, people become financially literate and build good money habits.

In line with this focus, the institution made sensitization visits to various schools and also organized a webinar designed to train youths on Money Management, Saving Skills, and Career Development, among others.

As an institution LAPO remains an active promoter of good financial practices and a credible authority on financial inclusion. So it was no surprise that its Founder and Chairman, Dr. Godwin Ehigiamusoe was chosen to deliver the keynote address at the 6th Annual Symposium of the Nigerian Microfinance Platform on April 29 on the topic: Measures for Deepening the Financial Inclusion Drive in the Country.

As the year approached its mid-point, LAPO continued to balance its disbursement of bespoke loans and other material support with providing education and awareness to its customers and the general public.

Most recently, on June 11 and 12, LAPO hosted a two day seminar to train business owners to boost their reach and increase customer patronage by effectively using social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, especially through targeted advertising.

LAPO’s sustained efforts to adequately cater to the critical demographics it serves in spite of prevailing challenges are commendable and as described by the television anchor, worth emulating.

*Adegboyega is a policy analyst.


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E-Financial

NDIC Calls for Inputs to IADI Core Principles for Effective Deposit Insurance

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Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has called for comments from financial services industry stakeholders in the country, policy makers and the general public towards the ongoing revision of the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI) Core Principles for Effective Deposit Insurance System.

NDIC Calls for Inputs to IADI Core Principles for Effective Deposit Insurance

The proposed revision launched by IADI in May 2025, is a significant step towards enhancing the resilience and relevance of deposit insurance frameworks in the face of an evolving global financial landscape.

Specifically, the revision is aimed at comprehensively addressing structural changes, including digital innovation, the growing role of deposit insurers in resolution, and lessons learned from the banking turmoil in March 2023, which is the most significant systemic stress event since the 2007-09 global financial crisis.

The IADI Core Principles are used by jurisdictions, including Nigeria, as a benchmark for assessing the quality of their deposit insurance systems and for identifying gaps in their deposit insurance practices and measures to address them.

The Core Principles are also used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in the context of the Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP), to assess the effectiveness of jurisdictions’ deposit insurance systems and practices.

The first set of the Core Principles was issued jointly by the IADI and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) in June 2009 while the document is subjected to periodic revision order to keep it up-to-date with evolving trends on the global financial system landscape.

As a founding and committed member of IADI, NDIC recognises the importance of the ongoing revision and hereby invites stakeholders and the general public to actively participate in the process by reviewing the document on the lin


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E-Financial

Onafriq Marks 15 Years of Revolutionizing African Payments

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Onafriq, Africa’s largest digital payments network, has celebrated a major milestone, connecting nearly 1 billion mobile money wallets and 500 million bank accounts across the continent.

According to a statement released by the company, Onafriq has evolved from a mobile money switch to a comprehensive omnichannel payments network, facilitating seamless transactions and financial inclusion.

The company’s network now connects 961 million registered mobile wallets and 464 million registered bank accounts, with over 2,000 cross-border payment corridors supported.

Speaking on the achievement, Dare Okoudjou, Founder and CEO of Onafriq, said, “We remain fully committed to connecting every individual and business in Africa with each other and the world.”

Okoudjou noted that the company has grown in lockstep with the continent’s digital evolution, from mobile money to bank accounts, remittances, and real-time trade.

As Onafriq embarks on its next chapter, the company aims to develop infrastructure with local relevance while maintaining the scale of its pan-African infrastructure.

A prime example is Nigeria, where Onafriq is developing a unique payments stack that combines the strength of its cross-border network with the regulatory and foreign exchange realities of one of Africa’s most dynamic economies.

The company is also exploring blockchain infrastructure and stablecoin integrations to facilitate near-instant, programmable payments, aligning with the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

“We are increasingly focused on creating infrastructure with local depth,” Okoudjou said.

With extensive experience, wide reach, and a proven execution track record, Onafriq remains dedicated to building a payment infrastructure that unlocks prosperity across borders and within local communities.


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E-Financial

UBA Compiles with NCC, to Deduct USSD from Customers’ Accounts

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United Bank for Africa (UBA) has informed its customers that, in compliance with a new directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), charges for USSD banking services will no longer be deducted from bank accounts, effective June 3, 2025.

UBA Compiles with NCC, to Deduct USSD from Customers’ Accounts

 

In a notice sent to customers, the bank explained that the charges would now be deducted directly from users’ mobile airtime balances, in line with the NCC’s newly introduced End-User Billing (EUB) framework.

It said the new model aimed to ensure transparency in USSD transactions and shift billing responsibility to mobile network operators.

According to UBA, each USSD session would now cost ₦6.98 per 120 seconds, saying that customers initiating transactions would receive a prompt to provide consent at the start of each session, and airtime would only be debited if the bank is available to process the request.

The bank advised customers who are not comfortable with the new billing arrangement to opt for other digital banking alternatives such as the UBA mobile app and internet banking platform, which remain fully operational and user-friendly.

UBA reaffirmed its commitment to providing secure and accessible digital services, and encouraged customers to choose the channel that best suits their banking needs.

The policy marks a significant shift in Nigeria’s digital banking ecosystem and is expected to address longstanding disputes over USSD service charges between telecom operators and financial institutions.

 

 

 

 


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