Business

RMAFC Boss Vows to Reposition Commission for Greater Efficiency

Published

1 month ago

September 19, 2025

Joel Ajayi

The Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Dr. Mohammed Bello Shehu, OFR, has reiterated his commitment to repositioning the Commission for greater efficiency in fulfilling its mandate.

He made this known in a keynote address delivered at the opening ceremony of a retreat organised for members of the Central Bank Monitoring Committee (CBMC), held in Kano from Wednesday, 17th to Friday, 19th September 2025. Dr. Shehu was represented at the event by the Committee Chairman and Honourable Commissioner representing Ebonyi State, Engr. Nduka Henry Awuregu.

Dr. Shehu explained that the retreat was convened in line with the new monitoring responsibilities conferred on the Commission under the RMAFC Act, 2025. He recalled that the CBMC was established in February 2021 to put in place processes for closely monitoring revenue inflows to, and disbursements from, the Federation Account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The initiative, he said, was informed by numerous briefs, reports, and memoranda that highlighted the persistent underperformance of revenue projections in annual budgets, resulting in growing fiscal deficits across all levels of government.

The RMAFC Chairman urged members of the Committee to discharge their duties with diligence and professionalism, assuring them of his leadership’s support in tackling emerging challenges. He stressed the importance of a strong working relationship between the Commission and the CBN, noting that the Bank remains a critical partner in the effective monitoring of Federation Account revenues and disbursements.

“With the new Act, all hands must be on deck to ensure the successful repositioning of the Commission to discharge its functions with utmost professionalism,” Dr. Shehu stated, while calling on members to actively engage in all sessions of the retreat.

In his welcome address, the Committee Chairman—represented by his Vice Chairman, Professor Steve Ugba—explained that the retreat was designed to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of the Committee’s oversight role, strengthen inter-agency collaboration, and deliberate on key issues central to fiscal transparency and national economic planning.

Also speaking, the Secretary to the Commission described the retreat as both timely and significant, adding that it would provide the Committee members with the opportunity to critically review their activities, identify areas of strength and weakness, and streamline their operations towards more effective delivery of their mandate.

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Business

TAJBank Emerges Nigeria’s Biggest Non-Interest Bank

Published

1 week ago

October 23, 2025

The Gleamer

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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