Alpha Morgan Bank Expands Footprint with New Branch in Osogbo

Alpha Morgan Bank has officially opened its newest branch in Osogbo, Osun State, marking another milestone in its mission to deliver satisfying banking closer to customers across Nigeria.

The new branch, located at 165 Station Road, Osogbo, was commissioned by His Excellency, Prince Kola Adewusi, the Deputy Governor of Osun State, in a ceremony attended by top government officials, business leaders, and members of the Bank’s management team.

In his remarks, Prince Adewusi commended Alpha Morgan Bank for its expansion into Osun, describing the move as a strategic step that will stimulate economic activities and enhance access to quality financial services within the state.

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Ade Buraimo, MD/CEO of Alpha Morgan Bank, expressed gratitude to the government and people of Osun for their warm reception. He reaffirmed the Bank’s unwavering commitment to providing seamless, customer-centric, and satisfying banking experiences across all its touchpoints.

The Osogbo branch features a modern banking hall, personalized financial services, and digital solutions designed to meet the evolving needs of individuals, SMEs, and corporate clients — continuing the tradition of excellence Alpha Morgan Bank is known for.

🎥 Watch the commissioning highlight here:

Recapitalisation Reality Check: Uncovering the Truth Behind Nigeria’s Banking Boom

BY BLAISE UDUNZE

When the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced a new round of bank recapitalisation in March 2024, many expected the leading banks, especially those boasting record-breaking profits in the hundreds of billions and trillions, to sail through with ease. Their financial statements glistened with prosperity, with expanding balance sheets, rising dividends, and bullish share prices.

Indeed, five of Nigeria’s top 10 banks reported a combined pre-tax profit of N4.6 trillion in 2024, showing a staggering 70 percent increase from the previous year, with Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company crossing the trillion-naira mark for the first time. The results painted a picture of robust profitability and resilience.

Yet, barely months after the profit announcements, the same banks found themselves racing back-to-back to the capital market to raise fresh funds. By the first half of 2025, Nigeria’s banking industry was at a crossroads. Behind the glitter of trillion-naira profits lay a more sobering reality of an industry scrambling to meet the CBN’s recapitalisation directive.

The contradiction is stark: record profits on one hand, desperate fundraising on the other. If the banks were truly as profitable and resilient as they claimed, they wouldn’t be begging investors for fresh equity to meet new thresholds.

Behind the strong showing of the market leaders lies an even deeper concern. The smaller commercial and regional banks are struggling to formulate credible recapitalisation strategies. As the March 31, 2026 deadline looms, the CBN has confirmed that only 14 banks have so far scaled the recapitalisation hurdle. That leaves nearly 19 institutions still in search of capital in a market already skeptical of their true worth.

The recapitalisation push has therefore become the clearest indicator of the sector’s underlying fragility. The CBN’s new capital requirements of N500 billion for international banks, N200 billion for national banks, and N50 billion for regional banks have forced lenders to confront a fundamental question. How much of their reported profits actually represents real financial strength?

Much of Nigeria’s profit boom has been a deception, a mirage built on foreign exchange revaluation gains and arbitrary fees rather than genuine operational efficiency. The unification of exchange rates and subsequent naira depreciation in 2023 and 2024 delivered massive revaluation windfalls on dollar-denominated assets, inflating balance sheets overnight. But these were paper gains, not cash profits, and could not be deployed to strengthen capital or fund new loans.

Beyond FX gains, Nigerian banks have increasingly relied on fees and charges as easy revenue. Despite repeated CBN sanctions for breaching its Guide to Charges, banks continue to extract billions from customers through transfers, withdrawals, ATM fees, SMS alerts, and account maintenance. With over 312 million active bank accounts, these charges now contribute more to profitability than traditional lending or genuine financial intermediation.

It is little surprise, then, that the recapitalisation exercise has exposed the widening gap between declared profitability and true solvency. While five Tier-1 banks together raked in N4.6 trillion in pre-tax profit in 2024, nearly 70 percent higher than in 2023, many mid-tier banks can barely keep pace. The recapitalisation gap across the sector is now estimated at N4.7 trillion.

As of September 2025, only 14 banks had crossed the line, while others scramble for mergers, rights issues, or license downgrades to survive. The CBN’s insistence that only paid-up capital and share premium will count while excluding retained earnings has stripped away the accounting camouflage that once masked weakness.

For the market leaders, the race has been aggressive but achievable. Access Holdings raised N351 billion through a fully subscribed rights issue. Zenith Bank’s N350.4 billion hybrid offer was oversubscribed by 160 percent. Wema Bank, once a mid-tier lender, successfully raised N200 billion and became a national success story. Among specialised institutions, Greenwich Merchant Bank sealed its own recapitalisation, supported by capital injections and debt-to-equity conversions that secured its merchant banking license, while Jaiz Bank rose above the N20 billion target to remain the flagship of Islamic banking. Lotus has met the N10 billion bar, consolidating its place in Nigeria’s fast-growing alternative sector.

Another notable entrant is Globus Bank, which in 2024 raised N52.9 billion to lift its capital to N98.6 billion and followed in 2025 with a further N102 billion via rights issues and private placements. The raise subscribed entirely by existing shareholders took its capital above N200 billion. The bank now awaits final verification from the CBN before being formally recognized as compliant.

For others, however, it has been a painful crawl. Fidelity Bank’s N205.45 billion hybrid offer still leaves a N160 billion gap to the N500 billion benchmark. Guaranty Trust Bank reached its own target through a two-phased approach that started with a rights issue in Nigeria that netted N365.8 billion. Subsequently, GT listed shares on the London Stock Exchange with proceeds of $105 million to reach the required target, while UBA Plc launched a N157 billion rights issue in July 2025, following a N239 billion offer in November 2024 that was oversubscribed at N251 billion, with N240 billion accepted. The new offer, extended to September 19, 2025, helped the bank meet the CBN’s N500 billion capital requirement.

As of September 2025, First Bank has secured N187.6 billion and plans an additional N350 billion in private placements, but it still needs to secure the remaining funds to meet the CBN’s requirements. FCMB Group Plc launched a N160 billion public share offer to meet the CBN’s N500 billion capital requirements for international banks, with the offer closing on November 6, 2025. The offer follows a successful N147.5 billion share sale in 2024.

Fidelity raised N176 billion in fresh capital in 2024 and is moving to get an additional N195 billion via private placement before the end of the year. Sterling Bank has not yet completed its recapitalisation as it commenced an N87.067 public offer. This offer follows completion of a N75 billion private placement and a N28.79 billion rights issue, which was significantly oversubscribed by its shareholders.

Consolidation pressures are once again reshaping Nigeria’s banking landscape. Titan Trust’s acquisition of Union Bank and the completed Providus and Unity Bank’s merger reflect the reality that not every institution will raise sufficient equity alone. More combinations are expected in the months ahead, with smaller lenders likely to be folded into stronger franchises as the recapitalisation deadline approaches.

This trend mirrors the 2005 consolidation era, which trimmed 89 banks down to 25, ushering in a new era of scale and scrutiny. The 2024-2026 recapitalisation may well repeat history, producing fewer but sturdier players, banks large enough to finance Nigeria’s economic transformation.

But history offers a warning that recapitalisation is not reform. Bigger balance sheets may shield banks from global shocks, but they do not guarantee developmental relevance. Unless the philosophy of Nigerian banking itself changes from profit-first to purpose-driven intermediation, the sector will keep producing “giant banks in a fragile economy.”

The real challenge is not size, but substance. Nigeria doesn’t just need bigger banks; it needs better banks. It needs institutions that see SMEs as partners rather than liabilities, that lend to real producers rather than recycle deposits into government securities. It needs lenders that adopt fintech-driven underwriting, regulators that reward productive lending, and policymakers that create the infrastructure, power, and security needed to make risk-taking viable.

Recapitalisation, in this light, should not be seen merely as a regulatory hurdle but as a mirror reflecting both the success and the shame of Nigeria’s banking system. The trillion-naira profits may have dazzled investors, but the scramble for new capital reveals the truth that the sector’s foundations remain fragile, its governance inconsistent, and its contribution to real economic development still limited.

The CBN’s policy, painful as it may be, is a necessary reality check. It forces banks to prove that their wealth is more than paper-deep and that their balance sheets can support Nigeria’s ambitious $1 trillion economy vision. For investors and depositors, it is a wake-up call that what glitters in the financial statements may not always be gold.

In the end, recapitalisation is not just about raising funds; it is about restoring credibility. Because trust, once eroded by profit manipulation and corporate posturing, takes far more than a balance sheet to rebuild.

Blaise, a journalist and PR professional writes from Lagos, can be reached via: [email protected]

A Nation on Its Knees: How Nigeria Crumbled Before Our Eyes.

By George Omagbemi Sylvester | saharaweeklyng.com

“Wake up Nigeria, we can not reclaim our throne when we are deep asleep on the job.”

NIGERIA (the land of vast potential, resplendent hope and a future once imagined so bright) has fallen into a quagmire of broken promises, shattered expectations and systemic decay. Once touted as Africa’s rising star, we now endure a reality of no reliable electricity, crumbling road networks, failing governance, a free-falling naira, insecurity and poverty levels that soar to new heights. In short: how can we reclaim the title of Giant of Africa when the foundations have collapsed?

What went wrong?
1. GOVERNANCE FAILURE.
At the heart of Nigeria’s decline lies the collapse of governance. A scholarly review noted that “despite being Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria faces governance deficits that hinder sustainable development and economic growth.” According to the same study, Nigeria’s power generation stagnated at 5,500 MW in 2023 while demand soared to around 30,000 MW. When governance fails to deliver the basics (power, rule of law, infrastructure) hope dies.

The former President of the NBA, Olisa Agbakoba SAN, warned that Nigeria can only reach a ₦500 trillion economy with “robust legal and institutional frameworks.”

We have the institutions on paper; what is lacking is integrity, capacity and political will.

2. ECONOMIC MISMANAGEMENT & OVER-RELIANCE ON OIL.
Nigeria’s economic malaise is not for lack of resources. The country is rich – in people, in land, in energy. Yet the so-called “RESOURCE CURSE” is very real. As one recent article summarised: “This study identifies political and administrative corruption, as well as low productivity, as key structural barriers to economic transformation.”
Our economy has remained overly dependent on oil, IMPORT-HEAVY and SHOCK-PRONE.

According to International Monetary Fund (IMF): “Between 2014 and 2023, real per capita GDP declined on average by 0.7 percent annually. In 2023 the poverty rate stood at 42 percent.” The naira crash, inflation and debt burden all result from decades of mis-prioritisation.

3. INFRASTRUCTURE COLLAPSE & SERVICE DELIVERY FAILURE.
How can farms prosper when there’s no road to bring produce to market? How can factories thrive when electricity is erratic and cost of doing business is punitive? Infrastructure is the backbone of growth and Nigeria’s backbone is broken. From dilapidated classrooms to degraded hospitals, with no street lights, neglected parks and streets, the promise of public service delivery lies in ruins. Education, for example, receives about 6 to 7 percent of the annual budget, far below UNESCO’s recommended minimum of 15 percent.

When schools are crumbling, teachers demoralised, classes crowded, the future shrinks. Health systems are overstretched; security infrastructure inadequate. In one study, “Effect of insecurity, no-one farms, output falls.”

4. SECURITY CRISIS & SOCIAL DISINTEGRATION.

You cannot build or grow in fear. Yet Nigeria’s security situation has deteriorated dramatically, insurgency in the North East, banditry in the North West, separatist violence in the South East, kidnappings and terror everywhere. The GOVERNANCE-INFRASTRUCTURE-SECURITY complex has collapsed. One article points to a “growing issue of terrorism financing” and noted that “137 out of 261 borders in the North-East and North-West remain unguarded.”

When citizens fear for their lives, investors stay away, agriculture shrinks and social capital bleeds away.

5. CURRENCY COLLAPSE, POVERTY SURGE & PUBLIC DESPAIR.
The currency is the barometer of trust in an economy. The fall of the naira, hyper-inflation, food insecurity, these are not merely economic metrics but human tragedies. In 2025, almost 129 million Nigerians were reported to live under the national poverty line; around 60 percent of the population.

And still we speak of “GIANTS”. A bigger statistical GDP does not mean new schools, new roads or new hope. As one expert warned after rebasing, the economy looked bigger, though it was “not more productive, nor more industrialised.”

Money is meaningless when schools are empty, clinics dilapidated and the streets unsafe.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?
The path to crisis is rarely sudden; it is built by years of neglect, bad decisions and compounding error.

After independence, Nigeria soared and hoping to be the model of African success. Oil money flooded in.

Instead of investing in infrastructure, diversification and human capital, elites chased rents, the institutions stagnated, corruption spread and oil-money dependency took root.

The roads were not built, the power plants were not completed, the schools were not upgraded. Governance became transactional. The public service, a career; accountability, optional.

Every crisis was met with bandaid (fuel subsidies, borrowed money, unsustainable spending) while the foundational work languished.

The economy remained fragile, when oil dropped, the rest of the system creaked. Export diversification (agriculture, manufacturing, services) was ignored or mis-managed.

Meanwhile security deteriorated: as poverty increased, marginalised youths turned to crime; state legitimacy waned; local grievances ballooned.

Now we arrive at a paradox, Nigeria has the youth, the land, the potential, but none of the trust, institutionality or infrastructure to harness it.

WHO CAN RESCUE US?
Rescue is not coming from outside. It must come from US (the citizens, the activists, the business owners, the churches, the societies) and the leadership we force to act.

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP WITH BACKBONE.
We need leaders who view their roles not as patrons, but as trustees. Leaders willing to discipline themselves, reduce wasteful governance costs and invest in the citizens. The NBA’s Agbakoba admonished that without “robust legal and institutional frameworks” Nigeria cannot achieve greatness.

A leader with moral authority, vision, discipline and one who prioritises the long game over short-term gain.

INSTITUTIONAL OVERHAUL & GOVERNANCE REFORM.
Formal institutions exist; what they lack is strength. We must build accountability systems, independent judiciary, transparent procurement, strong sub-national governments. As one article stressed: “Nigeria must prioritise transparency, accountability and inclusivity to foster national stability and prosperity.”

Real reform will destroy the rent-seekers and empower the productive.

INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT & HUMAN CAPITAL.

The giant awakens when his spine is rebuilt. Roads. Schools. Hospitals. Electricity. Parks. Mines. Farms. This is not charity; it is investment in the future. According to the IMF, Nigeria’s “real reforms can help Nigeria realize its potential as an African and global economic powerhouse.”

We can not wait for foreign capital; we must mobilise domestic capital, diaspora remittances, public-private partnerships and ensure the results reach the ground.

ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION & PRODUCTIVITY CULTURE.
Oil is not the future. Nigeria’s future lies in agriculture, manufacturing, ICT, service exports, renewable energy. We must shift from monoculture to multi-pillar productivity. A deeper study pointed out how “unproductivity stems from poor resource usage and lack of diversification.”

When we make something, we manufacture value, we employ our Youth, we transform from consumers to producers.

CIVIC AWAKENING & DEMAND-DRIVEN ACCOUNTABILITY.
No one will do it for us. Citizens must rise. Vote consciously. Demand accountability. Monitor budgets. Report looters. Build local associations. The Reddit-commentary is blunt:

“Nigerians are pretenders. They know they are a reflection of what their leaders represent.”

Indeed, the giant cannot stand while the people sleep. Civic duty is no longer optional, but imperative.

The Way Foward.
The path forward is clear, but the will is weak. Nigeria can be the Giant of Africa again, but not by default. It will require decisive action, brutal honesty, structural reforms and collective courage. We must stop treating crisis as normal. We must stop rationalising failure. We must demand better.

The blazing truth is this, the country that fails to govern its internal house cannot govern itself; the country that cannot provide roads, schools, electricity and security cannot dream of greatness. We are capable. We have the people. The land. The future.

Now we must muster the will. For without will, even the greatest of nations will shrink. Nigeria, it is time to wake up. Your giant is asleep and your future depends on whether you rise and shake the dust from his shoulders.

Published on saharaweeklyng.com. Author: George Omagbemi Sylvester.