Business
Ten Banks Pay 143 Directors N7.6bn In 2015
The directors of ten banks collected N7.6 billion as fees and allowances in 2015, representing 1.58 percent of the banks’ profitability during the year. The ten banks are Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith bank, Access Bank, FirstBank, UBA, Union Bank, Diamond Bank, Sterling Bank, Fidelity and Wema Bank.
Analysis of financial statements of the banks for the 2015 financial year, reveal that the ten banks increased total money paid to 143 directors by 11 percent or N742 million, from N6.84 billion in 2014 to N7.58 billion in 2015.
The amount paid to the directors represents 1.58 percent of the profit before tax of the ten banks, which stood at N480 billion in 2015. The amount paid to the directors also represented 2.0 percent of total staff salaries (personnel cost) in the ten banks.
Further analysis reveals inadequate disclosures relating to directors compensation, fees and allowances to board chairmen, and salaries of chief executive officers.
For example, Wema Bank did not specify amount paid as compensation to executive directors, while Access Bank and Sterling Bank failed to disclose money paid to their chairmen and chief executive officers.
Total board expenses GTBank led the ten banks, with N1.25 billion paid to its 14 directors in 2015, up from N1.2 billion in 2014.
Zenith Bank came second, with N1.145 billion paid to 10 directors in 2015, up from N630 million in 2014.
Acess Bank and FirstBank came third and fourth respectively, with N1.08 billion and N1.05 billion paid to 14 and 17 directors respectively.
The fifth highest board expenses was incurred by UBA, which paid N603 million to its 16 directors in 2015, up from N600 million in 2014.
Others are Union Bank-N983 million, Diamond Bank-N195 million, Sterling Bank-N265 million, Fidelity Bank-N766 million and Wema Bank-N235 million Executive Compensation
The ten banks, with the exception of Wema Bank, paid N4.63 billion to 52 executive directors. This represented two percent decline from N4.72 billion in 2014.
On the average, each executive directors got N89 million in 2015, down from N91 million in 2014. FirstBank came first as its six executive directors (E.Ds) were paid N784 million, up from N694 million in 2014.
GTbank came second, with N718 million paid to six E.Ds, up from N691 million. The seven E.Ds of Access bank were paid N705 million in 2015, down from N1,12 billion in 2014.
Union Bank paid its six E.Ds N625 million in 2015, up from N542 million in 2014, while Zenith Bank paid its four E.Ds N595 million in 2015, up from N414 million in 2014.
UBA paid its six E.Ds N547 million, down from N555 million in 2014. Others were Diamond Bank with five EDs – 149 million, Sterling Bank with six EDs – N156 million, and Fidelity with six EDs – N346 million. Union Bank CEO tops pay.
Analysis of amount paid to the highest director, the Chief Executive Officer (CEOs), by eight banks reveal the CEOs of eight banks were paid N903 million as salaries and compensations.
This was 13 percent higher than the N798 million paid to the CEOs in 2014. The CEO of Union Bank received the highest pay with N208 million, representing 36 percent or N55 million increase from the N153 million earned in 2014. GTBank CEO came second earning receiving N204.9 million, up by 12 percent or N22 million from N183 million in 2014. The CEOs of UBA and Fidelity Bank came third and fourth earning N125 million and N102 million respectively in 2015, up from N116 million and N94 million in 2014. Others are FirstBank-N90 million, Zenith Bank-N78 million, Wema Bank-N70 million, and Diamond Bank-N25 million.
Shareholders call for review
Shareholders however were of the view that the amount paid to banks directors though huge and not in sync with economic realities, is necessary to prevent them from stealing depositors money, and also in view of the amount of work they have to do to generate earnings for their banks. “If the banks’ executives are well paid, the temptation of stealing depositors’ money will not arise,” stated Mr. Boniface Okezie, Chairman, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, PSAN.
“However, considering the economic downturn, I think the banks can equally cut the package they take home to reflect the present economic realities. If States Governors and Ministers are cutting their salaries, I think the banks should equally follow suit. There are some allowances for banks’ executives that need to be cut down or completely be removed. It is time for companies to tighten their belts given the global oil fall which had affected the country’s income.
So, if the economy picks up, banks can review the packages paid to their executive directors. But under normal circumstances, the banks’ executive should be well remunerated given the nature of the risk they undertake. If they are under paid, then you be begin to see all kinds of stealing and rubbery in the banks through insider collaboration”, he said.
Mr. Taiwo Oderinde, Chairman, Proactive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, PROSAN, on his part said the huge money paid to directors was unfair to shareholders. He said, “
“The banks’ executive compensations is really on the high side when you compare it to other countries. The executive directors of banks are given all kinds of allowances at the expense of depositors and shareholders. We do react on this issue when we attend
Annual General Meetings, AGMs. In some cases, we refused to approve their remunerations and ask them to go back and review it. “The problem we are having as shareholders is that in some cases we don’t have shareholders’ representation on the board. By the time they set up committee to review the remuneration you will only see executive directors taking decisions. The executive directors are really feeding on shareholder’ fund and this has to be checked by the regulators in the industry.
The executive directors have access to our funds and make use of it the way they like. I think there should be regulation in this aspect of emolument to stop these mouth watering packages.”
According to the Chairman, Renaissance Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Ambassador Olufemi Timothy, “The banks’ executive emolument is not too much considering the earnings they make for the bank. These are people who toil all day and night to see that depositors’ money is kept safely. So the high risk element should also be another great reason why they should be paid well. Even the so called Foreign Exchange, (forex ) are kept by these banks.
Furthermore, if banks’ executives are well paid the issue of stealing or fraudulent practices would be drastically reduced or even eliminated. I believe the packages for executive directors are not too much given the volume of work they do and the income they make for the institutions.”
“My position on this issue is that it should be looked at on the contribution they bring to the organisation”, stated, Mr. Nonah Awoh, a shareholder activist. “ It is not how big or how small the packages are, the concern should be on the equity remuneration of employees.
What is the disparity between the Chief Executive Director and other senior management? If the differential is too high, then it is not good for the organisation. Banks should be careful if fixing remuneration so that it does not affect what they are giving to shareholders in form of returns on investment”, he said.
Source: Vanguard
NNPCL and Corruption’s Final Throes
By Pius Olasanmi
In the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, when Nigerians were still capable of being outraged, when Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries was a buzzword that still held some mysticism to bamboozle citizens, during a conversation, a certain man said something profound. The man said, “As a businessman, if I were the owner of these refineries, knowing that they are three decades old, I would take the last money I have, hire bulldozers, raze them to the ground, and obtain loans to build new ones.”
When we pressed him further on why he would engage in such waste, he explained that repairing the refineries is the real waste. He explained that even if the TAM were honestly carried out, a thirty-year-old refinery would never compete favourably with a new one that would integrate contemporary technology. Operating at its best, such a refinery would never be comparatively more efficient. It is therefore pointless to have spent another one naira on the refineries at that point.
A few months later, I had a conversation with a then-lawmaker on an entirely different matter. I mentioned that the National Assembly has failed by not crafting legislation that would criminalise and punish public office holders who foist wrong decisions on the country. The logic: a public office holder need not steal to be punished, wrong decisions should attract penalties for an office holder who opts for the worst of all options when there are less injurious ones.
These established premises speak to the ongoing nauseating efforts at revisionism by those who wrecked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its previous iteration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Notably, this campaign to rewrite history is traceable to Engineer Mele Kolo Kyari, the disgraced immediate past Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL and his hirelings. They have suffocated the news and the public opinion space with even more lies than they spun while in office.
The Saint Kyari campaign is anchored on convincing Nigerians that the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries were fully functional when he was booted out of office. So brazen is the campaign that one of its talking heads challenged the group chief executive officer (GCEO), Engr. Bayo Ojulari, to “inform Nigerians categorically what happened to the functioning refineries he inherited from his predecessor, Engr. Mele Kyari.” The effrontery.
We have not forgotten so soon the charade that followed the baffling claim that Nigeria has spent $2.8 billion on the repair of the refineries, while they are not churning out even a single litre of refined product among them. Saint Kyari and his goons played all manner of tricks, all of which embarrassed President Bola Tinubu, who had counted on ticking off the return to productivity of the refineries as part of his achievements, only to realise that he was deceived into celebrating phantoms. Tragic.
Lest we forget, 200 trucks were arranged as props in a well-directed video clip to celebrate the re-streaming of the Port Harcourt Refinery. The disappointment. Nigerians were to learn from several reports that the Port Harcourt refinery was not producing and was instead using old, stored petroleum products to load trucks. Worse still, the Kyari crew was passing off sanction-tainted Russian-sourced crude oil refined in Malta as locally refined products. More insult was piled on the assault on our collective sensibility with the lies that the Port Harcourt Refinery exported semi-finished products. Brazen.
Meanwhile, Kyari and his hirelings called those who pointed out or protested these glaring scams all manner of names. They hid behind industry technicalities and jargon to create the impression that those of us who knew Nigerians were being robbed did not understand what we were saying. The point remains that a $2.8 billion investment can potentially build a refinery with a capacity of around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Of course, the actual capacity of such a refinery will depend on various factors, including the complexity of the refinery, the technology used, and the location. That is the amount that Kyari’s regime at the NNPCL took and did not give Nigerians refined products.
Fast forward to Kyari’s sack and the appointment of Engineer Bayo Ojulari, who has demonstrated that things can indeed be done differently. Kyari’s exit was expectedly followed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) going after him and his associates. The extent of the theft is better understood against the backdrop of N80 billion being found in the bank account of one of his associates. They went on the run.
Perhaps because the EFCC was biding its time on securing international warrants for the arrests of these characters on the lam, they have become emboldened. They have decided to fight back and rewrite the story of their participation in the greatest fraud against Nigerians. Engineer Ojulari’s renewed mindset, which is entrenching a semblance of the transparency Nigerians demand, became their natural target. The demons that once roamed around the corporation came out with malevolence. They started spinning stories of corruption to tarnish the incumbent who refused to hide their crimes. The objective: bring Ojulari down. But alas, he is winning the war as it stands.
His innocence is proven, and it is glaring that those who want him out are mere charlatans who can no longer ply their corrupt wares because of the impact of the new reforms. Corruption in the NNPCL is in its final throes. The fake news being unleashed against the incumbent leadership is akin to corruption’s last kicks as reforms in the sector strangulate it and its practitioners. The reforms must take place in the NNPCL, whether the industry demons like it or not.
As a parting shot, Kyari and his associates would do well to prepare their defence. In addition to accounting for the $2.8 billion they laundered in the name of repairing the moribund refineries, they must also answer for the poor decision to fix that which is irretrievably broken. Awarding contracts for Turn Around Maintenance of 59-year-old refineries that a right-thinking person had suggested should be demolished almost twenty years ago, when they were only 30 years old, is criminal. Trying to deceive Nigerians that the fake repairs worked is treason.
Olasanmi is a public affairs analyst writing from Lagos.
GRANDIS 5STAR LUXURY APARTMENT & SUITES SET TO REDEFINE LIVING IN VICTORIA ISLAND
Set to Rise elegantly against the Lagos skyline, is the Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites. According to Adejuwon Ademola, The General Manager of the Development company, it is more than just a residential building
“it’s a lifestyle statement. Standing 17 floors high in the heart of Victoria Island, this revolutionary masterpiece of modern architecture will offer a panoramic 360° view of Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, and Ikoyi, transforming every apartment into an exclusive penthouse experience for the world’s most discerning elite.”
Developed by Dumarco Construction Limited, a globally acclaimed company with decades of delivering complex, high-value projects in the highly regulated petroleum, oil, and gas industries, Grandis 5Star brings unmatched international safety standards, uncompromising quality, and timeless elegance into Nigeria’s luxury property market.
> “When you live in Grandis, you’re not just buying a home—you’re investing in peace of mind, world-class safety, and an effortless luxury experience that will remain pristine for decades,” says Adejuwon A. Ademola, General Manager of Dumarco Construction Limited.
The Gold Standard in Safety and Quality
Dumarco’s roots in the oil and gas sector mean the company operates to some of the strictest safety protocols in the world. Every stage—from conceptualization, design, construction, to long-term maintenance—follows internationally accepted procedures and quality assurance measures. Cutting corners is simply not in Dumarco’s vocabulary.
> “In the oil and gas industry, there’s no room for compromise. We’ve brought that same discipline and zero-tolerance for mediocrity into property development,” says Ademola. “That’s why Grandis will be one of the safest and most enduring residential developments in Nigeria.”
To ensure transparency and prevent (project complacency), Dumarco deliberately separates the developer, contractor, and consultant roles, engaging only the most competent professionals in each respective field. Dumarco’s project team includes globally recognized contractors such as Julius Berger, Cappa & D’Alberto, and Elalan, Migliore Construczione & Tecniche (MC&T) and their partners VENCO IMTIAZ CONTRACTING COMPANY (VICC) based in Dubai, UAE, Business Contracting Limited, alongside leading consultants like Morgan Omanitan & Abe, LAMBERT, and James Cubitt.
Grandis – Investments, appreciation, returns and profitability
Our selection process for the location of the project alone was pains-taking and completely thorough scientific process. Top professional companies were employed to conduct a scientific data acquisition and analytical survey of the entire Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki and Eko Atlantic before a project site is selected. Analyzing and acquiring areas developmental charts and trends, studying and gathering historical and present sale prices, rental charge and occupancy rates over a 50 year period from every individual street before the selection of the location of any of our developments especially true for the Grandis Project
He adds,
“Our clients and residents can be rest assured that the location of Grandis has been scientifically proven through all existing data to provide our clients with a 100% occupancy rate, highest developmental location, highest rental income and investment returns. ”
The Grandis Experience
Located minutes away from international corporate headquarters, embassies, and landmarks such as Eko Hotel, Radisson Blu, and the Radisson Red, Grandis offers unmatched convenience for professionals, diplomats, and high-net-worth individuals. Every residence is designed for both indulgence and efficiency, with high-grade finishes, smart-home systems, and private amenities that ensure seamless living.
From sunrise over the Atlantic to the glittering Lagos night skyline, residents will enjoy uninterrupted luxury, supported by discreet and highly trained staff, advanced security systems, and a design that prioritizes comfort and privacy.
> “We designed Grandis for people who want everything—security, elegance, convenience, and the assurance that their home will look as spectacular in 20 years as it does on day one,” Ademola notes.
A Legacy That Lasts
With its combination of visionary architecture, peerless safety, and meticulous maintenance planning, Grandis is built to remain iconic for generations. Thanks to Dumarco’s meticulous approach, the building’s service charges are expected to remain low while its value and appeal continue to appreciate over time.
In a market often marred by shortcuts and substandard practices, Mr Ademola says
Grandis stands as a beacon of what luxury living should be—safe, spectacular, and built to last.
“Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites — Where safety meets sophistication, and every detail is designed for a life well-lived.”
He added
Website -www.dumarcoltd.com
Project website – www.26idowutaylor.com
Email [email protected]
Tel / WhatsApp +234 9077777883
GM – Adejuwon A. Ademola
celebrity radar - gossips
Nationwide Talent, One Broadcaster: Tinubu Picks Pedro, Bello, Din, Mohammed to Lead NTA
Tinubu Overhauls NTA Leadership: Media Powerhouse Rotimi Pedro Takes Helm as DG
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced a major shake-up at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), appointing renowned media executive Rotimi Richard Pedro as the new Director-General in a move widely seen as a bold step toward modernising the state broadcaster.
Pedro, a Lagos native, brings nearly 30 years of expertise in broadcasting, sports rights, and marketing communications across Africa, the UK, and the Middle East. A trained entertainment and intellectual property lawyer, he also holds an MSc in Investment Management and Finance from City University Business School, London.
In 1995, Pedro founded Optima Sports Management International (OSMI), which rose to become one of Africa’s leading sports content providers—distributing premium events such as the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup, and CAF competitions to audiences in over 40 countries.
His career highlights include top roles at Bloomberg Television Africa and Rapid Blue Format, as well as advisory work for FIFA, UEFA, Fremantle Media, and the African Union of Broadcasters (AUB). At the AUB, he was instrumental in securing exclusive pan-African free-to-air media rights for all CAF competitions.
Alongside Pedro’s appointment, Tinubu named Karimah Bello from Katsina State as Executive Director of Marketing, Stella Din from Plateau State as Executive Director of News, and Sophia Issa Mohammed from Adamawa State as Managing Director of NTA Enterprises Limited.
Industry insiders credit Pedro with building commercially viable broadcast platforms, driving sponsorship growth, and delivering world-class content to African audiences. His appointment marks one of the most significant leadership changes at NTA in years—signalling the government’s intent to strengthen the broadcaster’s competitiveness in a fast-evolving media landscape.
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