First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s leading financial inclusion services provider on Thursday, 11 June 2020, presented 20,000 units of e-learning devices to the Lagos State government at the State House in Marina, Lagos. The devices are planned for distribution to school children.

With the gesture, the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the State had found a “real development partner” in FirstBank, noting that the intervention came at a time the Government was massively deploying technology to transform the conventional mode of teaching and learning.

The presentation of these devices which is also in partnership with Robert & John (an edu-tech company that owns Roducate) is part of activities implemented to close the gap caused by the disruption in children education’s due to schools’ closure, following the COVID-19 pandemic. So far the Bank has enabled over 10,000 free sign-ups to the Roducate e-learning platform with the goal to empower one million students.

“When we were developing our vision to change the face of education in Lagos, we knew from the outset that we could not achieve much progress in improving the quality of learning without using technology as a strong enabler. So, it is not out of place that we are witnessing more infusion of technology in learning and this intervention by FirstBank could not have come at a better time,” said Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Governor of Lagos State.

“It feels great when you have people and organisations share in your vision and working with you to realise it. I’m glad to say that we have found a real development partner in FirstBank, which has supported us to actualise the vision we have signed to achieve. Many years back, nobody foresaw Coronavirus (COVID-19) would come and disrupt our ways of life. These devices will be useful to our pupils in the current circumstances we have found ourselves.”

“FirstBank and all technical partners that worked on this project have written their names in the heart of students that will be using the device to learn. They will be forever grateful for passing the future to them.”

The e-learning device is configured in line with the government’s accredited curriculum for primary, secondary and tertiary schools across various fields of academic endeavours, such as science, commercial and arts. It is built to promote cost-effective learning as there is minimal need for internet connectivity, whilst learning on the device is on-going.

Speaking on the presentation, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, Chief Executive Officer, First Bank of Nigeria Limited said “the e-learning initiative aligns with our Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability initiatives and falls under one of our key strategic pillars, Education.”

“We are excited to promote education and have consistently demonstrated this in our support of 10 universities and 3 secondary schools on infrastructure projects; our support of 10 universities with professorial Chairs and provision of financial literacy, entrepreneurial and career counselling to over 80,000 students in over 80 secondary schools in the country”, he added.

The Bank has also collaborated with IBM and Curious Learning to ensure the e-learning initiative swiftly moves across the country to school children and individuals with the need to promote the pursuit of knowledge, irrespective of age.

The partnership with IBM, offers the Digital-Nation Africa program, an online youth-focused learning programme that enables innovation and skills development on emerging technologies through focus areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Coding, Cloud, Internet of Things, Blockchain, Data Science and Analytics, and Cybersecurity whilst Curious Learning offers academic-based contents for students aged 3-8, using fun, self-guided learning apps to help them with their cognitive skills at a fundamental level.

First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s premier and leading financial inclusion services provider, has announced that it has reinforced its technology infrastructure to enable anyone in the country open a FirstBank account through their mobile phones, without visiting any of its branches nationwide.

The investment in the Bank’s mobile banking infrastructure is in furtherance of the need to deepen financial inclusion in the country, enabling account opening to be carried out on its *894# USSD banking, FirstMobile (self-service telephone banking), its website – www.firstbanknigeria.com – as well as the Bank’s staff, through the Direct Sales Executive (DSE) application installed on their mobile phone, ATMs and the bank’s over 55,000 FirstMonie Agents spread across the country. Opening an account with FirstBank through any of these means is seamless, convenient, fast, and user-friendly.

The DSE App is an end to end encrypted mobile application installed on the phone(s) of FirstBank staff which enables them to open an account for to-be customers. Upon the completion of the account opening process via the DSE App, the customer is notified of his or her account number through a text message on the mobile phone used to register the account.

With FirstBank’s *894# USSD banking, various banking activities are carried out on a mobile phone – across the four major GSM network operators in the country – without the use of the internet. To open an account via this means, dial *894# then select ‘open an account’ to provide the information required or by simply dialling *894*0#. The Bank currently has over 9.5 million of its nearly 20 million customers on its USSD banking platform.

The FirstMonie Agent Banking is an agent banking initiative from the bank that is designed to take banking closer to people, thereby bridging the gap between the banked and unbanked. FirstMonie is a channel through which various banking activities like FirstBank account opening, funds transfer, bill payments, data and call credit recharge services, amongst others are carried out. The Agent Banking initiative has also contributed to reducing poverty, being responsible for the indirect employment of over 150,000 people across the country.

According to Chuma Ezirim, Group Executive, e-Business & Retail Products, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, “beyond opening an account in any of our over 700 branches, we are delighted with the investments at reinventing our business processes over the years, especially with the use of technology. This has been critical to staying relevant in the industry for over 126 years and being the financial partner of the first choice to all our customers and Nigerians, irrespective of where they are.”

Creating these virtual ways of opening a bank account with us – thus; the staff DSE App, ATMs, FirstMonie Agents, *894# USSD banking, FirstMobile and our website – reinforces our resolve to ensure that more Nigerians and residents have access to banking, especially through our state of the art financial services and we remain resolute to being the key to banking, enabling business and financial activities that would continue to propel the country’s economic growth and development.

Nigeria’s leading financial inclusion services provider, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, has announced that thousands of students have been signing up to access the e-learning solutions for free which is provided in partnership with Roducate and Lagos State Government.

This is in furtherance to the Bank’s resolve to close the gap of the disruption in children education’s due to schools’ closure, following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Roducate e-learning platform is structured in line with the government’s accredited curriculum for primary, secondary and tertiary schools across various fields of academic endeavours, such as science, commercial and arts.

Also, it includes tutorial videos to reinforce the learning engagement as well as assignments and mock exam to test the students’ knowledge and progress in the course of studying. In addition, learning on the platform enables one to take notes for quick reference.

In view of the need to foster extra-curricular activities – beyond academic pursuit – the Roducate e-learning platform is configured with exciting features to make learning exciting and fun. These features include podcasts and various games such as brain pulse, monster munch etc. which allows one to play with other students online thereby building relationships and promoting interactive learning.

Speaking on the implementation of the initiative, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, CEO, FirstBank said “The partnership with Lagos State has seen us provide low-end devices for students preloaded with Roducate offline; content which include Government accredited curriculum for primary through secondary education and several university courses. This solution will see Lagos state offer children in the lower bracket, who may not have access to devices or data from home affordable smart phones preloaded with the curriculum. The phones have SIMs and limited data tied, only, to the Roducate learning product, which means the recipients cannot browse, encouraging safe learning but can still submit tests, mock exams etc.”

Adeduntan further noted that ” currently our partnership offers students free online access to the education solutions. We encourage parents and guardians to have their children and wards registered in this initiative so their educational development is not held back” he concluded.

Visit www.firstbanknigeria.com/e-learning to access the Roducate e-learning powered by FirstBank for free.

Nigeria’s leading financial inclusion services provider, First Bank of Nigeria Limited has announced that its *894# Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Quick Banking service has hit over 9.5 million customers. This is in clear demonstration of its acknowledged leadership in electronic Banking. The Bank’s USSD banking service, launched in January 2015, is an easy to use, convenient, fast, user-friendly mobile banking channel through which various banking activities are carried out on a mobile phone – across the four major GSM network operators in the country – without the use of the internet.

Customers are able to enjoy a wide range of banking services using the Bank’s *894# USSD banking. These services include; Data and Airtime top-up for self and third-party individuals, Quick Balance Enquiry, Fund Transfers, BVN Enquiry, BVN Linkage, Mini-statement, Account Number Enquiry, Account Opening, Merchant Payment and FirstAdvance loan service. The FirstAdvance loan service enables salary earners to take a loan up to 50% of their monthly salary.

In the words of Chuma Ezirim, FirstBank’s Group Executive, e-Business & Retail Products, “At FirstBank, we are excited about the impact our innovative solutions are making in the Nigerian payment landscape. Our *894# USSD banking has been a viable platform through which we take our banking services to the doorstep of our customers, right on the palm of their hands, without the limitation of an internet connection. We remain committed to creating various avenues to enable Nigerians carry-out various financial activities conveniently, safely and securely anytime, anywhere in Nigeria.”

First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s premier and leading financial inclusion services provider, will host a virtual SME Business Clinic to provide insightful information on how SMEs can better manage the financial activities of their businesses.

The clinic which is scheduled to hold via Microsoft Teams by 11 am on Thursday, 7 May 2020 is entitled: “Developing a budget to keep your business afloat” and will be discussed by leading SME experts in the country; Abayomi Adewumi, Founder/Director at Global Leadership Institute and Ojiugo Ajunwa, CoFounder at Ritetrac.

Speaking on the event, Mr. Gbenga Shobo, Deputy Managing Director, FirstBank said “the roles SMEs play in Nigeria are instrumental to the growth of our economy, especially in this very sensitive time, where many countries across the world are exploring alternative avenues to sustain the viability of their economy. The FirstBank SME clinic has been instrumental to having SMEs better informed on how to manage their businesses and we encourage SMEs to join us in the forthcoming clinic as it promises to be enriching and impactful to their business.

In line with its resolve to support SMEs with essential skills and information to stay ahead in managing their businesses, FirstBank has held three SME clinics in the course of the year. These clinics were held in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and had over 150 SMEs in attendance.

To attend the event, follow the link https://smeconnect.firstbanknigeria.com/webinar to register.

Zenith Bank Plc, Nigeria’s leading financial institution, has introduced an automated voice banking service, an interactive voice response (IVR) solution which enables customers to perform basic banking transactions by dialing a dedicated phone line through their registered phone numbers and following the prompts.

By simply dialing +234 (1) 278 7000 from the phone number linked to their accounts and following the prompts, customers can pay DSTV/GOTV bills, restrict their accounts or block their cards, request account statement via email, view the last five transactions, transfer funds, buy airtime, and do lots more.

Speaking on the launch of the product, the Group Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu said that the “Zenith automated voice banking service is designed to ensure a truly amazing experience that will offer convenience for our teeming customers”. The GMD added that the self-service product offers quick response to customers in addition to security entrenched by the multilayer authentication mechanism. He urged the Bank’s customers to take advantage of this unique service particularly at this critical time when the physical interface with the Bank has been greatly impacted due to social distancing and the restriction of movement in some states of the federation due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Zenith Bank has clearly distinguished itself in the Nigerian financial services industry through superior service quality, unique customer experience and sound financial indices. The bank remains a clear leader in the digital space with several firsts in the deployment of innovative products, solutions and alternative channels that ensure convenience, speed and safety of transactions.

The Bank’s commitment to world-class service standards has led to several product innovations over the last couple of months including the “Zenith Timeless Account”, which allows Nigerians aged 55 years and above Bank for free, the “Zenith Save4me”, a high-interest target savings account and “Dubai Visa Service” on the Zenith Internet Banking Platform, which allows convenient application and payment for visas to Dubai.

As a testament to its excellent performance, commitment to best-in-class service and recognition as one of the most innovative financial institutions in Nigeria, Zenith Bank was ranked as the Best Digital Bank in Nigeria 2019 by Agusto and Co. The Bank was also voted as the Best Commercial Bank in Nigeria 2019 by the World Finance and emerged as Bank of the Year and Best Bank in Retail Banking at the 2019 BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFI) Awards. Most recently, Zenith Bank was recognized as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria, for the third consecutive year, in the Banker Magazine “Top 500 Banking Brands 2020” and the Bank of the Decade (People’s Choice) at the ThisDay Awards 2020.

Prudential Zenith Life Insurance has launched a payment service which allows mobile phone customers in Nigeria to buy protection policies wherever they are.

Customers who dial *5966#  on their mobile phones will be able to purchase a life insurance or hospital cash plan policy in a matter of minutes.

Speaking at the launch of the product at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos on Wednesday, March 18, 2020, the Chairman of Prudential Zenith Life, Mr. Jim Ovia (CON), said “We are pleased to announce this exciting and innovative initiative that will democratize access to insurance for all Nigerians. We are strongly committed to deepening financial inclusion”.

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Africa, Matt Lilley said: “We launched Prudential Zenith Life in 2017 to help minimize uncertainty from the lives of Nigerians. I believe that this service will make it easier for people to access life insurance cover that gives them and their families financial peace of mind, if an accident or the worst were to happen.”

Research shows that Nigerians are significantly underinsured despite the adoption of mobile phones for insurance purchase in several parts of the world. Only one per cent of Nigerians have insurance whilst more than 95 per cent of the population have mobile phones. Prudential Zenith Life seeks to increase the number of families that have financial protection by making it convenient to purchase insurance on their mobile phones.

Prudential Zenith Life Insurance Limited is part of Prudential Plc, one of the oldest and most strongly capitalised life insurance companies in the world. It provides a range of insurance and investment-linked savings products designed to suit corporate and individual customers’ budgets.

Prudential Zenith Life seeks to remove uncertainty from life’s big events, providing customers with the freedom to confront the future with greater confidence. It is equally committed to meeting the long-term savings and protection needs of families and businesses in Nigeria. Whether someone is starting a family, saving for a child’s education or planning for old age, Prudential Zenith Life provides customers with financial peace of mind.