Business
FG Set To Boost Power Sector Investment To Drive Economic
Joel Ajayi
In its renewed determination to drive economic growth and development in the country, the Federal Government has continued to engage with relevant stakeholders with a view to boosting power sector investment as a major priority area for achieving the desired objective.
The Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, while chairing a meeting with World Bank delegates, led by Dr. Ndiamé Diop, Country Director for Nigeria, and Ms. Olu Verheijen, Special Adviser to the President on Energy, in his office in Abuja, today, reaffirmed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration’s commitment to repositioning the economy for the future of Nigeria.
He stated that the meeting was held to discuss innovative ways to drive Nigeria’s power sector forward.
HM Edun informed that the meeting focused on World Bank-supported initiatives, including the Power Sector Recovery Operation (PSRO) and the Distribution Sector Recovery Program (DISREP), aimed at improving power distribution and management systems in order to ensure economic growth and development in the nation
Key highlights from the meeting include:
– Plans to roll out 3.5 million meters to enhance power distribution- $50 million funding for state solar plant pilots and infrastructure upgrades- Measures to support tariff frameworks, market reforms, and co-financing the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s Performance Improvement Plan.
This collaboration aims at strengthening Nigeria’s power sector, enhancing energy access, promoting economic growth and development, improving job creation as well as poverty alleviation in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration.
The Honourable Minister and World Bank delegates expressed their commitment to working together towards achieving these goals for the benefit of all Nigerians.
Business
TAJBank Emerges Nigeria’s Biggest Non-Interest Bank
Cyril Ogar
After five years of operations in Nigeria’s rapidly evolving non-interest banking (NIB) space, TAJBank Limited has become the biggest player in the NIB subsector based on its total assets and gross earnings values.
Disclosing this during his paper presentation on the key performance indices in the non-interest banking space over the past few years at a seminar organized by Leaders Corporate Services with the theme “Roles of Non-Interest Banks In SMEs’ Financing” for SME entrepreneurs yesterday in Abuja, an investment expert, Mr. Olabode Akeredolu-Ale, maintained that based on the non-interest banks’ approved financial statements for the half year 2025, TAJBank currently remained the biggest in terms of its total assets.
The expert, a chartered stockbroker, specifically confirmed that his recent investment researches on the NIBs and their financial performances showed that TAJBank, with its total assets rising to N1.017 trillion in half year 2025 up from N953.098 billion as of December 2024, which is about N53 billion higher than the nearest NIB’s assets, now ranked top in the banking subsector.
According to him, TAJBank’s gross earnings for H1 2025 also surged to N53.752 billion from N32.86 billion as of December 2024, representing a 64% growth, and higher than the nearest NIB’s gross earnings in the period under review.
This is even as he disclosed that on the NIBs’ earnings per share during the half year, TAJBank reported N61.36 kobo earnings per share, about 92% higher than the earnings per share of the next NIB during the period.
Akeredolu-Ale, who is also a chartered accountant, clarified: “The figures I am reeling out here on the NIBs are sourced from the banking and capital market regulatory institutions’ platforms, which anyone can access to verify.
“I am part of this event because of my research interest in non-interest banking and how the players in the subsector in Nigeria can help to leverage their competencies in innovation and ethical banking to support our MSMEs.
“Today, the MSMEs cannot access DMBs’ loans due to high lending rates and other inclement macroeconomic factors. This is where I think the NIBs have become very crucial to Nigeria’s economic growth.
“Overall, my findings on the NIBs indicated that they are all trying their best with non-interest loans to support entrepreneurs, particularly the MSMEs owners. I have advised those of them at this seminar to explore the cost-friendly financing options of the NIBs to grow their businesses by opening accounts with the NIBs”, the expert added.
Another speaker at the event, Benjamin Chukwudi, also commended the NIBs for their “catalytic roles in helping SMEs to access interest-free loans and providing them the needed financial management advisory, which have been helping them in sustaining their operations in the face of rising cost of doing business in the country.”
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