FirstBank rewards 37 Firstmonie agents

Collins Nweze

FIRST Bank of Nigeria Limited has rewarded 37 Firstmonie  agents with over N15 million cash prizes.

The winners, selected at different levels were presented with the cash rewards at a ceremony tagged: ‘Firstmonie Agent Banking National Award’ held in Lagos.

Speaking at the occasion themed “Planting Community Heroes Nationwide”, Chief Executive Officer, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Adesola Adeduntan, said the Firstmonie agent network is a bespoke channel through which the bank expresses its unalloyed commitment and passion to promote opportunities and access to financial services by every Nigerian, especially within the low-income segment.

“The initiative has witnessed several changes in the operating structure and value proposition of FirstBank. In December 2017, the bank ran a pilot test with over 400,000 transactions processed and following the success of the first run, it re-launched in 2018”, the bank’s chief noted.

Deputy Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Francis Shobo, stated that the agents are the most critical part of the banking ecosystem because they take deposits, make payments and open accounts, provide transfers and sell airtime at locations with little or no access to financial services.

Shobo lauded the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele for the role the apex bank has played, stating that the CBN has made a lot of changes in regulation around agency banking, “they have allowed the programme to scale as much as it has scaled.”

At the well-attended ceremony, the sum of N250,000 each was won by 31 agents at the state level, N1 million each by five agents at the regional level and a grand prize of N2.5 million at the national level.

In chat with newsmen after receiving the cash prize at the event, the N2.5 million grand prize winner at the national level from Abuja (North Central), Zayyanu Hassan Ishaq, described his prize as a miracle of God.