Business
X-raying emerging trends and innovations in the Nigerian remittance market
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One of the novel fallouts of the twenty-first century is the increasing significance of remittances as a composite of household disposable income. Remittances represent household income from foreign economies arising mainly from the temporary or permanent movement of people to those economies. Remittances include cash and non-cash items that flow through formal channels, such as across electronic wire, or through informal channels, such as money or goods carried across borders. International experience suggests that remittance flows have important implications for macroeconomic and financial stability. As such, accurate compilation and recording of remittance flows as well as new trends and innovations in remittance corridors are crucial for understanding the behavior of the remittance market.
Remittances contribute to economic growth and to the livelihoods of people worldwide. Money sent home by migrants constitutes the second largest financial inflow to many developing countries, exceeding international aid.
According to the World Bank figures for 2011, total revenue for the Global Funds Transfer segment was $300.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, up 8 percent from $276.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. The segment reported operating income of $33.4 million and an operating margin of 11.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. Adjusted operating margin was 14.0 percent in the quarter, up from 11.9 percent in the prior year’s quarter. Q3 2015 Earnings result by MoneyGram International, one of the two global heavyweights in the money transfer operations sector, puts its revenue growth at 67%, with annualized revenue figure for the period at $160million. Western Union’s profile too is equally impressive.
Remittances have a distributive impact on households as income and consumption
patterns are affected. The vast majority of remittances are used to provide for the basic needs of households regardless of the country, with siblings and parents the most likely recipients. Generally, the major uses of remittances in Nigeria include housing, consumption and education financing, with spikes generally observed in remittance flows during back to school and pre-Christmas periods.
The favourable impact of globalization on the movement of skilled immigrants as well as the large advances made in the use of technology accompanied the beginning of the
twenty-first century. Against this background, the size of the Nigerian Diaspora community worldwide increased, precipitating significant increases in remittance flows into the country. Wikipedia estimates that 20m Nigerians reside outside the country with majority in the UK and US while the British Foreign office states that the population of the Nigerian community in the UK is between 800,000-3million.
According to the World Bank, the Nigerian remittance market is worth well over $10 billion. Besides the size, the market has enormous opportunity and growth prospects.
MoneyGram International and Western Union are two foremost MTOs that have deepened their dominance of the local remittance market largely through their sharp lookout for trends and innovations in product development as a strategy of delivering customer delight. Of particular note is increased economies of scale of the two major operators attributable to their worldwide expansion in the number of agent locations as well as the introduction of electronic money transfer system. This has created a significant reduction in costs of transfer and improvement with regard to ease of transferring funds, thereby attracting more and more customers into the net.
In its nearly twenty years of operations in Nigeria, MoneyGram has proved to be a real leader in the strategy of securing first mover advantage in deploying innovative products to broaden its market appeal and customer base. The latest of such is its new Cash-to-account service offering which, again, is the first in the Nigerian remittance market.
For a society like Nigeria where the role of remittance in solving personal and family financial needs is highly acknowledged and where also the rate at which personal and family issues requiring financial interventions come up is astoundingly rapid, a product like cash-to-account money transfer is a welcome development.
This new service offering allows remittances to be received directly into the receiver’s personal bank accounts anywhere in the country and same accessed any day or time just like any other deposits.
Unlike the standard money transfer service, the new MoneyGram Cash To Account (C2AC) does not require the receiver to physically visit any agent location for identification and other formalities before he or she can access transfers.
Picture a scenario in which a family member has a life-threatening occurrence on a Saturday that requires financial intervention same day and to solve the matter, you need to access fund transferred to you by a family member abroad. In the pre-cash-to-account era, the earliest you could access such fund would be on Monday and havoc might already have been done.
The birth of the cash-to-account offering means right in the comfort of your home or through any other means of accessing your regular bank account that you are comfortable with, you can access and spend funds transferred to you in Nigeria from any part of the world anytime.
Investigation shows that the transaction process (starting with actual transfer abroad and the fund landing in the receiver’s account in Nigeria) can be concluded within 10 minutes.
A customer sending money to Nigeria from the US, UK, Germany, Italy and many other countries of the world can indicate at the point of send whether he / she wants the remittance to be collected in cash ( over-the-counter) in Nigeria or be sent to hit a bank account in Nigeria. All that is needed, in addition to the standard sender details (Sender’s first and last names and telephone number), is that the sender will be required to supply recipients name (first and last), their 10 digit numeric NUBAN account number, their bank name and the purpose of the transaction
Once transaction is successfully completed, receiver’s account is credited in Nigeria instantly and, on receipt, the local bank alerts him/her via email/SMS notification just as it happens in the regular banking transactions. The receiver does nothing as his/her account is directly credited. No form to fill; no visit to agent for identification; no payment of any landing cost.
With near or real-time connections, the receiver has access to the funds whenever he/she wants. Funds are available to receivers 24/7, 365 days in the year and they can easily retrieve money transfers from their accounts at night, during public holidays and on weekends using any of the e-transfer channels, ATM, POS and other available withdrawal platforms.
Speed, convenience and ease of mind are in-built features of this new innovation. Fund is guaranteed to be securely deposited directly into receiver’s account with the risk of fraud and other malpractices hitherto associated with fund transfer receivership in the country eliminated.
Befittingly, the new cash to account offering has been pioneered in the Nigerian market by MoneyGram International which is the only MTO with a fully functional regional office in the country. It may be argued that establishing its West African hub in Lagos has helped the brand to be better able to understand the needs of the local market and also offer quicker and better marketing and operational support. Such understanding of market needs and dynamics is required more from other market players for the nation’s remittance market to remain abreast of global trends and innovations.
Business
FLOUTING CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS, DEFYING COURT ORDERS, AND DISREGARDING ARBITRATION: THE FACTS BEHIND HADIZA BALA USMAN’S ABUSE OF OFFICE AS NPA MD
FLOUTING CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS, DEFYING COURT ORDERS, AND DISREGARDING ARBITRATION: THE FACTS BEHIND HADIZA BALA USMAN’S ABUSE OF OFFICE AS NPA MD
By BUA Group | May 31, 2025
We have noted recent public statements made by Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman, the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), who was sacked from office. In her comments, she accused BUA Group and our Chairman, Abdul Samad Rabiu, of breaching a concession agreement and distorting facts. These claims were made in response to our Chairman’s interview and article, “Two Years of President Tinubu: A Business Perspective” (watch at https://bit.ly/pbatbua), which celebrated Nigeria’s reform trajectory and referenced prior instances of arbitrary disruptions to business operations, without naming anyone – a situation that has now been curtailed by President Tinubu’s no-nonsense approach to bringing sanity and stability to the business environment in Nigeria.
Ordinarily, we would not engage, but the distortions in her response necessitate this factual clarification, especially as they relate to her actions during her tenure as MD of the NPA.
THE CONTRACT AND WHAT SHE OMITTED
In 2006,
BUA entered into a valid long lease agreement with the NPA to rehabilitate and operate Terminal B at Rivers Port in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Long before Ms. Usman’s appointment, BUA had begun formal engagement with the NPA to address outstanding remedial works and infrastructural deficiencies. These discussions were nearing their conclusion when she assumed office.
Rather than build on that process, Ms. Usman ignored BUA’s requests and obligations under the agreement. In 2016, BUA wrote to the NPA under Article 8.4 of the lease, mandating concessionaires to report environmental and safety concerns and to seek approval for remedial works. Rather than act constructively, Ms. Usman used that letter as a pretext to issue a termination notice and summarily shut down the terminal, without providing any prior warning, consultation, or invoking the dispute resolution clause.
She forgot or failed to disclose in her response that the NPA, under her leadership, was itself in material breach of core obligations including, failing to hand over critical portions of the port, leaving derelict iron ore on the berths, failing to dredge or repair quay walls, and neglecting to provide mandatory security. These lapses were significant impediments to BUA’s operations and, as a result, led to disputes between the parties.
ILLEGALITY, CONTEMPT, AND DISREGARD FOR CONTRACTUAL MECHANISMS
After the unlawful termination, BUA approached the Federal High Court, which promptly granted an injunction restraining the NPA from proceeding with termination. The NPA itself then referred the dispute to arbitration, as stipulated in Section 17.3 of the agreement, which clearly states:
“Any dispute, controversy or claim… shall be exclusively and finally settled under the dispute resolution process prescribed in this Article.”
Despite this, Ms. Usman, against the advice of her agency, unilaterally decommissioned the berths, thereby violating both the agreement and a court injunction. To be clear, the concession agreement granted her no such power to decommission. If she believes otherwise, we invite her to publicly cite the specific clause that authorizes this action.
To further compound the illegality, BUA, after providing the guarantees and indemnities requested by the NPA, was permitted to resume operations briefly. Merely three weeks later, the terminal was again shut down, this time by Ms. Usman’s instruction. This left no doubt that her actions were motivated not by due process, but by personal animosity and abuse of office.
BUA subsequently filed contempt proceedings and was looking at estimated losses of over $10 million. These proceedings were only withdrawn out of respect for national interest and following the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians within and outside the government.
PRESIDENT BUHARI WAS NOT MISINFORMED—HE ACTED ON FACTS AND LAW
Ms. Usman’s claim that former President Muhammadu Buhari was “misinformed” when he reversed her actions is false, disrespectful, and disingenuous.
Following a meeting that our Chairman had the privilege of holding with President Buhari in 2018, he presented the matter to the President, who then directed the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation to conduct a thorough legal review and investigate the situation. The AGF invited all parties, including Ms. Usman, to several meetings. We never saw her at any of them.
Nevertheless, the AGF proceeded to undertake a comprehensive review of the contract, the litigation, the arbitration clause, and all correspondence and actions by BUA and NPA. The legal advice (attached herewith) found that the termination was unlawful, the decommissioning was without any legal basis, and that BUA’s rights should be reinstated.
It was on this basis that President Buhari ordered the reversal of her unlawful actions. His intervention preserved the sanctity of the contract, saved over 4,000 jobs, and BUA’s $500 million integrated investment cluster involving flour, pasta, and sugar processing facilities, which were all dependent on terminal access. For this, we remain deeply grateful to former President Buhari.
As our Chairman said in his interview, imagine if he weren’t privileged to have access. Nonetheless, this culture of impunity has been significantly curtailed under President Tinubu’s leadership, as many are aware that they could be dismissed or imprisoned if they abuse their positions.
POST-HADIZA: DUE PROCESS RESTORED, INVESTMENT RESUMED
Following Ms. Usman’s removal from office, the NPA, under new leadership, implemented the AGF’s position. In 2022, BUA was granted formal approval to resume reconstruction works. The contract was awarded to TREVI, and BUA has since invested over $65 million—entirely self-funded and with no recourse to public funds or subsidies. Work is ongoing, and completion is expected in the first quarter of 2026.
THE REAL DANGER: INVESTOR CONFIDENCE AND THE RULE OF LAW
We must state clearly that this matter goes beyond BUA. Had Ms. Usman’s actions been allowed to stand, it would have sent a disastrous signal that contracts in Nigeria are worthless, court orders are optional, and public institutions or individuals can act unilaterally without consequence. We must never return to that era.
Nigeria’s reform success today is rooted in respecting contracts, due process, and investor confidence—principles being restored under President Tinubu’s administration, under which BUA has committed over $1 billion in new investments across energy, food processing, manufacturing, infrastructure, and social interventions.
We wish to emphasise that Ms. Usman is entitled to her opinions, irrespective of how distorted they may be. However, she is not entitled to distort the facts or rewrite history. We do not seek a public spat and would like her to concentrate on fulfilling her duties in her new role under the strong leadership of President Tinubu.
We therefore simply restate the facts that Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman had no authority to decommission Terminal B unilaterally. She also acted in defiance of a court injunction and contractual procedure, and her actions caused significant economic loss of over USD10 million, reputational risk to BUA, and investor concern for Nigeria.
Our core message remains the same: public office should be viewed as a position of trust rather than a platform for personal biases. Those granted public power need to resist the temptation to let prejudice, ego, and vendetta influence their actions.
If Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman believes she acted lawfully, we challenge her to cite the specific clause or clauses that guided her unlawful actions. If not, let the facts remain where they belong — in the public record.
Signed,
BUA Group
May 31, 2025
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