E-Financial
UBA Foundation Donates Incubators to UNTH, AKTH
UBA Foundation, the corporate social platform of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has reaffirmed its commitment to the development of Nigeria’s health sector especially in the area of improving and contributing to the reduction of infant mortality rate in the country.
The UBA Foundation recently donated incubators to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano, as part of the campaign by the Foundation to give as many premature babies as possible a chance of living through the donation of modern Incubators to teaching hospitals across the country.
Ijeoma Aso, managing director/CEO of the Foundation said that UBA places high priority to the health sector and that the donation to the hospitals was in fulfillment of the foundation’s key objective of improving the lives and well being of the communities where UBA has presence.
The donation of the Incubators, she said, “is an ongoing project of the foundation with more teaching hospitals across the country lined up to benefit from the gesture.”
Speaking at separate presentation ceremonies held in Enugu and Kano, chief medical directors (CMDs) of both institutions respectively described UBA Foundation’s donation as a laudable and innovative gesture.
”Some of our old Incubators in the hospital were purchased as far back as 1972, which is 41 years ago, even some of our consultants here were not born then. So you can see why we are very grateful to UBA for this wonderful gesture” said Obinna Onodugo, acting medical director of UNTH, Enugu, while receiving the Incubators.
He commended UBA for the kind gesture, noting that this would go a long way in increasing the survival chances of babies born with health challenges requiring the use of Incubators.
His counterpart at AKTH, Professor Aminu Zakari Mohammed, described the donation as timely and would go a long way in reducing infant mortality in the country.
“We assure UBA that this gesture will be well utilized as we have a culture of maintaining our equipment” he said.
Dr. Mohammed Sani Mijinyawa, chairman, Medical Advisory Committee AKTH in his brief remarks said that the donation of incubators to the teaching hospital is the first of its kind by any corporate body or financial institution while Alhaji Mohammed Suleiman, director, Administration, said that this gesture will outlive the bank as whoever helps save a life, has helped save humanity.
Ifeoma Emodi, a Professor, head of department of Pediatrics, UNTH expressed appreciation to the bank emphasizing that the donation would help in fostering a mutually beneficial relationship between the hospital and the bank.
Casmir Molokwu, regional bank head, Enugu, UBA Plc, who led the delegation to the UNTH Enugu, emphasized UBA’s commitment to doing business in a sustainable way by supporting the communities where it operates.
Similarly, Abubakar Bello, directorate head, Far North Bank, who said that he has been a beneficiary of the AKTH’s expertise in managing the health of his twin babies at infancy through the Special Care Baby Unit of the hospital, noted that UBA understands clearly what it means to partner and support health institutions across the country including AKTH.
He said the bank will continue to partner and support AKTH in any way possible.
The highlight of the visit was when the UBA delegation was taken round the ‘new born units’ to see some of newborn premature babies whose lives depend on the incubators.
With the new incubators donated by UBA foundation, many more of the babies born “premature” now have a higher chance of survival.
UBA Foundation is the corporate Social Responsibility arm of UBA meeting special needs of various communities where it operates across Africa by giving back to society in the area of Education, Health, Environment and Economic Empowerment.
Federal court in Lagos has suspended the enforcement of Nigeria’s most comprehensive framework for regulating digital lending apps.
On April 15, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of the Federal High Court in Lagos granted an interim injunction blocking the enforcement of the Digital, Electronic, Online, or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations 2025, better known as the DEON Regulations.
The order followed an urgent ex parte application filed the previous day by the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPA Nigeria), the industry body representing wireless application service providers operating mainly within the telecoms ecosystem.
The suit targets twelve specific provisions of the text, covering licensing, sanctions, compliance obligations and data-handling rules, according to court documentation published by Lawyard.
Until the next hearing on April 27, 2026, the regulator cannot impose sanctions, enforce compliance directives, or issue new instructions to WASPA members.
The judge also barred the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) from interfering with the ongoing commercial operations of association members.
The case pits two actors whose respective mandates the Nigerian legal framework has never clearly separated.
On one side stands the FCCPC — the federal agency established in 2018 to enforce consumer protection and competition — which gazetted the DEON Regulations on July 21, 2025, under sections 17, 18 and 163 of its founding Act.
In a press statement dated September 3, 2025, Tunji Bello, executive vice chairman, FCCPC, justified the rules by citing “a long history of complaints” involving exploitative practices, data breaches, abusive debt recovery, and harassment.
On the other side, WASPA Nigeria contests the very legitimacy of the FCCPC’s intervention, arguing that services tied to telecoms — airtime credit, data loans, mobile-financing products — fall exclusively under the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms regulator created by the Nigerian Communications Act of 2003.
In the affidavit deposed by Ayo Stuffman, the association contends that the FCCPC is acting ultra vires and creating a regulatory regime parallel to the NCC’s.
A jurisdictional war that stretches far beyond a procedural dispute
The conflict is not limited to a question of legal boundaries. It strikes at the commercial core of the market: who collects the licensing fees, who sets the operational conditions, who governs the financial products embedded in telecom networks.
Nigeria’s consumer credit stock reached 3.82 trillion naira at the end of December 2024, up 21.27% on September, according to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data relayed by The Cable and AFP.
In the fourth quarter of 2024 alone, personal loans disbursed amounted to approximately 470 billion naira.
A growing share flows through mobile applications and telecom-embedded lending products — including MTN’s MoMo Airtime Lending, operated by the country’s largest telecom operator.
If the court validates WASPA’s position, these products fall outside the FCCPC’s scope and come under the sole authority of the NCC, a regulator historically less active on consumer protection issues.
Available data on demand illustrate the social stakes. Between 2021 and 2023, the FCCPC recorded more than 11,000 consumer complaints for harassment, data abuse and unethical debt recovery practices, according to the agency.
The number of lending applications approved by the FCCPC rose from 269 in September 2024 to 408 in March 2025, while 47 apps were delisted and 88 were placed on the watchlist, according to data compiled by AFP and OneSafe.
The DEON Regulations were meant to introduce interest-rate caps, precontractual disclosure obligations, continuous supervision of recovery practices and fines of up to 100 million naira per violation, according to Legit.ng. The compliance deadline was set for January 5, 2026, and the FCCPC had issued written compliance notices to operators with an April 16 deadline, according to WASPA’s affidavit.
It is precisely this enforcement pressure that triggered the legal challenge.
Federal government has said that Nigeria has no plans to seek a loan from the International Monetary Fund’s proposed $50 billion support package for economies hit by the Middle East crisis.
Wale Edun, minister of Finance, who stated this, said that Nigeria’s current reliance on domestic economic reforms and fund mobilisation was working.
Edun gave these insights during the African Finance Ministers’ briefing, on Thursday, at the ongoing IMF/World Bank annual meetings, in Washington, DC.
He noted that for over two years, Nigeria’s investment in economic reforms have begun to yield results, restoring policy credibility and strengthening the country’s resilience against global economic shocks.
Edun told the global west and the rest of the world that Nigeria now prioritises market-based adjustments, avoiding administrative controls, particularly in foreign exchange and petroleum pricing mechanisms.
His assertion follows the disclosure by the IMF that a possible $50 billion support to cushion vulnerable economies against the crisis in the Middle East, was on the pipeline.
Despite clarifying Nigeria’s lack of interest in borrowing, Edun, urged the IMF to ensure faster financial assistance for African countries who will need help from the $50 billion global support package.
“Nigeria has no plans at the moment to approach the IMF or any other such body,” Edun said, emphasising that Nigeria’s reliance on market mechanisms had led to smoother economic adjustments, reduced disruptions and is sustaining the country’s macroeconomic trajectory.
“The IMF talked about $50 billion and we all know that the funding will largely go to Africa, because those are the most vulnerable countries. And the reality is that what we’re asking for in this instance, is that the funds and the support be released quickly and at scale.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in collaboration with financial market dealers, has introduced the Nigerian Overnight Financing Rate (NOFR), a standardized benchmark designed to enhance transparency and strengthen monetary policy transmission.
Olayemi Michael Cardoso, CBN gov
Hakama Sidi Ali, spokesperson of the CBN in a statement on Friday, said that the the NOFR is expected to improve price discovery and transparency, while promoting consistent pricing of money market instruments across Nigeria’s financial system.
The regulator noted that the new benchmark positions Africa’s most populous country alongside leading global reference rates such as SOFR in the United States, SONIA in the United Kingdom, €STR in the Eurozone, and TONA in Japan.
“It also complements African benchmarks such as JIBAR (South Africa). Following a stakeholder engagement session held on February 27, 2026, where market participants formally adopted the benchmark, and subsequent regulatory approval, NOFR is now in use, with the CBN serving as the benchmark administrator.
“The bank will ensure governance, transparency, and regular publication of the rate,” CBN stated.
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