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Wema Bank Gives Out N11,000,000 To 131 Women

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…Commemorates women’s month through its 5 for 5 Promo

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Reinforcing its reputation as a pro-women and inclusion-driven bank, Wema Bank, Nigeria’s foremost innovative bank and pioneer of Africa’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, has disbursed a total of N11,000,000 to 131 women across Nigeria in the women’s month draw of the Wema Bank 5 for 5 Promo. The highly anticipated draw took place on Friday, March 21, 2025, in Aba, Nigeria.

Introduced in 2021, the 5 for 5 Promo is Wema Bank’s dedicated avenue for rewarding its customers for their active loyalty to the brand, its products, and offerings. Over the course of 3 seasons, the 5 for 5 Promo disbursed over N150,000,000 to 2,378 Nigerians across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria, returning bigger than ever for season 4 with a N135,000,000 cash prize. Since the season kicked off in October 2024, Wema Bank has disbursed over N50,000,000 to its customers across daily, weekly and monthly draws. For the 5th monthly draw in March, the Bank took a thoughtful step, disbursing the total N11,000,000 cash prize to an all-women pool of winners.

Among the 131 winners from the Wema Bank 5 for 5 Promo Women’s month draw were OGECHUKWU PATIENCE ANI from Aba where the draw held, VANESSA CHIAMAKA OGBONNA from Lagos and MUBARAKAHT ABISOLA ALOWONLE from Bodija; all of whom won N1,000,000 each. Others included 8 individual domiciliary account holders who won N250,000 each, 40 women who won 100,000 each and 80 who won N25,000 each. The women’s month draw closed out excellently, financially empowering Nigerian women from across the country as the women’s month draws to an end.

Congratulating the lucky winners, Wema Bank’s MD/CEO, Moruf Oseni (FCIB), firmly reiterated the Bank’s commitment to empowering women to thrive in all aspects of their lives. According to him,
“Wema Bank was founded on the precept of empowerment. Since 1945, we have carried on this legacy, promoting financial inclusion for the indigenous people of Nigeria and empowering our people with the resources they need to thrive. But for us, this journey has not been a one size fits all”.

“In recognition of the gap that exists in gender equality, we have been intentional about creating tailored opportunities for women through our women-focused proposition, SARA by Wema, and our vast range of customised solutions and initiatives designed for women. We have simply leveraged the 5 for 5 Promo as one more way of supporting our women, this women’s month. For us, it’s all about impact, and we are delighted to have put smiles on the faces of Nigerian women from all across the country. That is the joy for us”.

“To the 131 women who emerged winners, I say a hearty congratulations to you, and I take this opportunity to also thank you for choosing Wema Bank and continuing to trust our services. We do not take it for granted. For 80 years, we have pulled all stops to deliver the best quality of impactful banking to the people of Nigeria, and I boldly reaffirm that we will never relent in providing a rewarding, fulfilling and empowering banking experience for every customer of Wema Bank”, Oseni concluded.

From its grand commemoration of International Women’s Day to giving out N11,000,000 to women in the 5 for 5 Promo, disbursing billions of Naira in loans and financial support to providing market access for women, among other intentional acts of impact; Wema Bank continues to prove itself a financial institution that is truly committed to empowering women.

The Wema Bank 5 for 5 Promo is open to both new and existing customers of Wema Bank. Any Nigerian from any part of the country can qualify to participate by meeting the minimum requirements of funding their Wema Bank/ALAT accounts and actively transacting.

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Shoreline Group secures US$200 million Afreximbank Facility

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Shoreline Group today announced that African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has approved a US$200 million facility in favour of Shoreline Power Company Limited and co-borrowers including Arkad S.p.A., Shoreline’s majority-owned engineering and construction platform.
Approved in June 2026, the facility was arranged and provided by Afreximbank as sole mandated lead arranger and lender. It provides bonding and working-capital capacity for Arkad’s delivery of the Hassi Bir Rekaiz project and supports Shoreline and its affiliates in developing further pipeline and infrastructure
projects in Nigeria and other permitted jurisdictions.
“This is a defining transaction for Shoreline and Arkad. We built Arkad as an African- sponsored engineering platform capable of competing at the highest level, and it is now delivering against a billion-dollar energy contract. Afreximbank’s US$200 million commitment gives the platform the financial strength to match its engineering capability and pursue further major infrastructure mandates. It demonstrates that African enterprises can assemble the capital, capability and partnerships required to compete for infrastructure at international scale.”
Hassi Bir Rekaiz Phase 2a Arkad holds 44 per cent of the approximately US$1 billion EPCCS-1 contract awarded by Groupement
Hassi Bir Rekaiz (GHBR) to an unincorporated consortium led by Egypt’s Petrojet, which holds 56 percent. EPCCS-1 covers engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and start-up for the Phase 2a central processing facility and related infrastructure at the Hassi Bir Rekaiz field in Algeria’s Berkine
Basin.
GHBR is the joint operating entity for the licence, held by Sonatrach with 51 per cent and Thailand’s PTTEP with 49 per cent. The project includes a new crude oil processing facility with capacity of 31,500 barrels per day, facilities for associated gas and produced-water treatment, approximately 217 kilometres
of pipelines and the brownfield modifications required to integrate existing Phase 1 infrastructure.
The facilities are designed to support later expansion to 63,000 barrels per day under Phase 2b.
“This financing addresses the instruments that determine whether an EPC contractor can execute at scale: performance guarantees, advance payment guarantees and working capital through the project cycle. Hassi Bir Rekaiz is a demanding scope, combining a new central processing facility, associated treatment systems, pipelines and brownfield integration. With Petrojet, and with the support of Shoreline and Afreximbank, Arkad is focused on disciplined delivery against the project’s safety, quality and schedule requirements.”
The transaction was structured under Afreximbank’s Engineering, Procurement and Construction Initiative, which supports African engineering and construction firms with the financial instruments required to compete for and execute large infrastructure contracts. Afreximbank also supported the Arkad-Petrojet partnership through its EPC twinning work at the Intra-African Trade Fair held in Algiers
in 2025.
According to Afreximbank, the transaction is its first support for a Sub-Saharan African contractor undertaking a major infrastructure project in North Africa. For Shoreline, it demonstrates a practical model for combining African ownership and capital with established international engineering andindustrial capability.

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BUSINESSWOMAN AISHA ACHIMUGU SPEAKS OUT, CALLS FOR PROTECTION OF LIFE AND RESPECT FOR RULE OF LAW

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Nigerian businesswoman and investor Aisha Achimugu has made a public appeal for the protection of her life, her family, and her business interests while alleging a sustained campaign of intimidation, media trial, and asset seizures.

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Achimugu, in a statement Tuesday, said she is facing actions that she described as an affront to the rule of law and natural justice.
She then called for the respect for court orders and for an end to what she termed misleading media coverage about her person and companies.
According to Achimugu, the widow of the late Engr. Sulaiman Achimugu, former Managing Director of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, PPMC, she has over the last three decades built businesses in the oil and gas and other sectors, and runs the SAM Empowerment Foundation, SEF, which she said has implemented health, education, and community projects across Nigeria.
The businesswoman, however, alleged that since 2023 she has been the subject of investigations and actions by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Narrating her ordeals, Achimugu noted that in 2023, the EFCC’s Port Harcourt zonal office froze her personal accounts, her children’s accounts, and company accounts linked to the Felak Group, based on an interim forfeiture order.
She said this was connected to a mistaken association with MBA Forex and Capital Investment.
Achimugu stated that in January 2024 she honoured an EFCC invitation with her counsel, clarified her company’s single transaction with MBA Forex, and refunded N58 million by bank draft to the EFCC recovery account.
In March 2025, the businesswoman said she received WhatsApp messages inviting her to the EFCC Port Harcourt office. Her lawyer responded in writing, proposing dates in April 2025. Despite this, she alleged a media campaign began on March 10, 2025 linking her to wrongdoing.
On March 28, 2025, the same day her company, Oceangate Oil & Gas Limited, submitted proof of $20 million payment to NUPRC for oil blocks PPL 302-DO and PPL 3007, subsequently, she claimed the EFCC declared her a “Wanted Person” for “conspiracy and money laundering.” She also alleged that EFCC operatives searched her home that day.
In April 2025, Achimugu said she filed a fundamental rights suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja. But upon returning to Nigeria on April 28, 2025 from a foreign trip, she alleged she was taken into EFCC custody, granted bail by a judge, but released five days later. She also said her international passport was collected.
She alleged further asset actions, including freezing of bank accounts, and the seizure of vehicles from her home in January 2026. She said matters relating to these actions are the subject of ongoing litigation and appeals.
Achimugu also alleged that her United States visa was revoked in April 2025, and that she encountered issues with visa processing related to her Grenadian citizenship, which she linked to media reports citing the EFCC’s declaration.
Achimugu stated that she has invested nearly $90 million in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector in the last five years and has attracted over $100 million in investments into the economy while directly employs close to 200 Nigerians.
However, she said the actions of the anti-graft agency have affected her business operations, international partnerships, and family, including her elderly parents and young children.
Achimugu then called on the National Assembly, the Judiciary, security services, and local and international human rights organizations to examine her case.
She also asked for the protection of her life and properties, respect for court orders, and an end to what she described as a “media trial”.
“I believe that justice delayed is justice denied, and I am not afraid to face the law provided due process is followed. My lawyers are pursuing all legal remedies locally and internationally,” she said.
Achimugu added that she remains committed to Nigeria and to supporting private sector growth.

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Nigeria’s Credit Crisis: Why Firms Still Struggle for Loans

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Nigeria’s Credit Crisis deepens as businesses struggle with high lending rates, weak bank credit access and government borrowing despite falling inflation (more…)

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