*Of Lightning Legacy: From Boardroom Battles To Global Brilliance, First Bank Resurges With Greater Conviction
*A Toast to Economic Genius: Otedola Hails President Tinubu, Cardoso’s Sweeping Reforms
A phoenix seeks no one’s permission before it rises. It simply spreads its wings, unleashes its innate fire, and dares the world to watch it soar. That spirit resurrects again within Nigeria’s oldest bank. And the man who has stoked the embers to flame is Femi Otedola, Nigeria’s multi-billionaire titan of industry, steward of legacy, and designer of corporate rebirth.
On May 22, 2025, First Holdco Plc convened its 13th Annual General Meeting with a bold proclamation that echoed far beyond boardrooms. The message was not clothed in corporate jargon. It was clear, loud, and alive with promise: First Bank is no longer in recovery; it is in resurgence. And at the helm, like a river meeting its delta, towers Otedola—undaunted, unfaltering, and unsparingly bullish.
With the cadence of a reformer and the steel of a strategist, Otedola declared that he would pour over N320 billion in fresh cash, not credit, not leverage, into First Bank. It is a capital raise of prophetic magnitude. In an economy stung by volatility and afflicted by legacy debt, such a gesture thunders with intent. Otedola is not inching toward this goal, he is leaping and igniting a legacy bank into a new era of dominance.
Founded in 1894, First Bank of Nigeria is no institution of chance. It is a monument to Nigeria’s financial history: its triumphs, crises, and enduring spirit. Yet in recent years, the bank bore the scars of corporate missteps: non-performing loans, crisis of governance, and fractured confidence. Still, like the iroko, it stood, weathered but rooted.
Otedola’s intervention was not a splash of sentiment. It was surgical. The seeds were sown in 2021 when, after selling his majority stake in Forte Oil (formerly African Petroleum), he resisted retirement and took the road less trodden. “This was not a gamble,” he says. It was a calculated crusade. A purposeful pivot to revive a colossus many had written off.
He is not just investing in a bank. He is sculpting a legacy with the hammer of discipline and the chisel of vision. The results? Resounding. The recent capital raise was oversubscribed. Market confidence is rising like a tide drawn to a full moon. And more is coming.
Of Men, Markets, and Mandates
If institutions mirror the philosophies of their patrons, then First Holdco Plc now breathes with the lungs of responsibility. Otedola’s mandate is merciless in clarity: “Curb excesses. Cut wastage. Protect depositors. Deliver value.”
There will be no private jet splurges, no unchecked luxuries, no whimsical largesse that turns shareholder funds into opulence. There will be ethical leadership, operational rigor, and discipline woven into every loan and ledger. The message to the board is unmistakable: governance must not be a buzzword—it must be the bloodline.
Otedola speaks the language of institutional resurrection because he has lived it. Geregu Power Plc, once a husk, now a giant supplying 10% of Nigeria’s electricity, is proof of his alchemy. From ash, he crafts gold. From inertia, he births motion.
A Future Drawn in Starlight
The vision is not modest. It is cathedral-high. It declares that First Holdco and its subsidiaries will be the global gold standard for financial services. Not just in Nigeria. Not just in Africa. The globe.
This is not rhetoric, it is architecture. The blueprint is drawn with precision: the bank intends to explore aggressive lending expansion to support businesses and deepen inclusion; it intends to scale digital infrastructure to bring banking to every palm and pixel; it will accelerate international expansion, with each subsidiary acting like a spear-tip in its region; value creation, governance supremacy, and strategic muscle will not be aspirations but verifiable outcomes.
To put these more explicitly, Femi Otedola has not merely forecast the future, he intends to rebuild it, line by line, brick by bold brick. His vision for First Holdco Plc is a grand design carved in ambition and sealed with strategic foresight. There is no room for modesty in this dream. It rises like a cathedral, lofty, luminous, and layered with promise. The journey ahead is not a stroll through incremental growth but a sprint toward industry dominance—global, not provincial; permanent, not passing.
At the heart of this vision is a belief that First Bank can become the global gold standard for financial services. Not a competitor in the shadows, not a regional player clinging to legacy laurels, but a colossus that is trusted, tested, and triumphantly ahead in every metric that matters. Value creation is not to be a footnote in its story; it is the central theme. Governance, once a soft echo in corporate corridors, will become a strict and sacred anthem. Strategic impact will no longer be measured by presence but by influence and by how deeply and widely First Bank can shape economies, empower enterprises, and serve society with unmatched precision.
The future Otedola envisions pulses with activity. Lending, the lifeblood of any financial institution, is to be vastly expanded—not recklessly, but deliberately. Lending will serve as both engine and compass, fuelling productive sectors, nourishing small businesses, empowering the financially excluded, and underwriting the boldest dreams of a new generation. First Bank will not hoard capital behind the fortress walls of caution. It will release it, strategically and wisely, as a tool of transformation across the Nigerian economy and beyond.
Digital infrastructure will no longer be an appendage. It will become the nervous system of the bank’s evolution. Every transaction, every customer experience, every backend operation will be digitised, optimised, and tailored for scale. The goal is not to catch up with digital trends—it is to lead them. From mobile banking to AI-driven credit scoring, First Bank’s future interface with its 40 million customers will be seamless, smart, and scalable. Banking will meet people not just where they are, but before they even know they need it.
Otedola’s gaze extends far beyond Nigeria’s borders. The bank’s international subsidiaries will no longer function as isolated outposts, they will become integrated organs of a unified ambition. From West Africa to global financial capitals, First Bank’s presence will echo with relevance and results. Expansion will be strategic, not symbolic. It will be tied to value, measured in performance, and calibrated by impact.
And all this will not take decades. The timeline is neither vague nor elastic. Within four years, the institution will not only grow in asset size but will reign in reputation and result. It will not simply be a bank with a large balance sheet—it will be an institution with a sharp intellect, a trusted name, and a soul wired for excellence. First Bank, under Otedola’s stewardship, will tower among Africa’s finest, not as a relic of history but as a standard for the future.
This is not a corporate mission statement polished for public relations. It is a manifesto of intent, a thunderous declaration that this bank will be reborn through deliberate action, not distant hope. And in that rebirth lies a quiet promise to millions of customers, shareholders, and citizens: the future will not be inherited; it will be engineered.
The age of passive banking has ended. The era of First Bank as a financial titan, muscular in reach and moral in conduct, has begun. And the man at the helm is not dreaming under starlight. He is pulling the stars down, one by one, and forging them into strategy.
And the timeline? Four years. Within that, First Bank shall not merely compete—it shall dominate, with a roar, not a whisper.
A Toast to Tinubu and Cardoso
Otedola’s vision does not exist in a vacuum. It dances to the rhythm of national reform. And he is unambiguous about who deserves credit. He raises a glass, publicly and proudly, to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose sweeping economic reforms, though often bitter in the short term, have dared to cut through Nigeria’s decades-long drift. Tinubu’s courage, Otedola said, is charting the difficult but necessary course Nigeria must sail.
And to Yemi Cardoso, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Otedola gives rare applause. He hailed Cardoso’s “pragmatic policy reforms” as the bedrock restoring investor confidence in the financial system. “His actions,” Otedola declared, “are giving investors like me the confidence to commit long-term capital to this country.”
It is not flattery. It is a signal. Otedola, with billions on the line, is voting with his wallet. Nigeria, he believes, is investable again.
A Bank as Bold as Its Custodians
First Bank’s journey is no longer about catching up, it is about setting pace. With over 40 million customers, it remains the most far-reaching banking institution in Nigeria. Its impact runs like an artery through the economy, touching farmers and fintechs, traders and tycoons.
That such a bank has stayed relevant through colonisation, civil war, dictatorship, democracy, and digital disruption is a miracle only discipline and relevance can explain. But relevance alone is not enough anymore. Under Otedola’s vigilant eye, profitability and purpose must now walk hand in hand.
And so the new First Bank will lend more but with conscience. It will grow but with governance. It will rise but not recklessly. Shareholders will see returns. Depositors will feel safety. Staff will know pride. And the economy will feel the tremor of its march.
Otedola did not speak with hesitation. His is a voice that carries both prophecy and proof. “I invest in value,” he said. “I invest with conviction, and I stay the course.”
He has seen ruin and wrestled fortune from it. He has built, lost, rebuilt. And now, standing astride Nigeria’s oldest bank, he declared it his “best bet yet.” There is no sign of fatigue in his voice, only fire. This is the rebirth of a giant, not with whispers but with war drums.
A New Dawn in Marble and Motion
As the AGM adjourns and the halls clear, one can almost hear the gears of history turning. The dust of past missteps is being swept aside. The starlight of future conquest glimmers ahead.
First Bank is back, not as a relic, but as a revelation. It is not seeking relevance. It is claiming supremacy. And with Otedola’s all-cash infusion, the bank is no longer betting on tomorrow—it is buying it.
Across the skyline of African finance, a familiar name is beginning to glow again. But this time, it’s not nostalgia that drives it. It is conviction, capital, and a crusade for greatness.
The Lion of Marina is roaring once more. And the continent watches.
