Emir Sanusi, Dangote, others react to unveiling of Nigeria’s biggest financial institution

By Chioma Obinagwam

As Access Bank celebrate the unveiling of its new brand with pomp and splendour- a result of the merger of Access and Diamond banks, reactions have continued to pour in from notable Nigerians.

Confiance News gathered from the bank’s Twitter handle, @myaccessbank, on Monday.

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Emir of Kano and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), while reacting to the event, revealed how he visualised the bank making landmark success in the annals of the financial sector owing to its unique strategies.

Reacting to the event which held on Sunday in Lagos, the Emir of Kano said, ” “In 2006, Access Bank was a third tier bank. But I told everyone to watch out for them. They were doing things no other bank was doing. Today they are the biggest retail bank in Nigeria.”

Corroborating, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dangote Group and the richest man in Africa stated that the reason for supporting the idea of co-founder and former CEO of Access Bank, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, and the current CEO, Herbert Wigwe of setting up a bank was borne from their courage.

“When AIG and Herbert came to me to say they wanted to start a bank, I thought they were crazy. But I supported them,” Dangote disclosed.

“To leave a guaranteed job to try something else in this kind of market is very very tough. I encouraged them because these are the most two aggressive human beings I have ever met,” he continued.

Dangote further noted that the combination of Aig-Imoukhuede and Wigwe is enormous and instrumental in the birth of the biggest bank in Nigeria, which every Nigerian is proud of.

Taking the form of an advice, Mr. Fola Adeola, the founder of FATE Foundation and co- founder of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) urged the be weary of their new status and ensure that they are better than what they have become.

“Do not ever forget that how you do it is as important as what you’re doing. Mind who, not just what you’re becoming. See to it that the end is even better than the now,” Adeola noted.

On his part, CEO of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe commended the efforts of the staff of the bank as the major catalyst behind success of the new brand.

““We couldn’t have done it without the 29,000 people who have been working day-in day-out to build largest retail bank in Nigeria,” he disclosed.

“The merger created a Pan-African financial services champion. Access Bank today is the largest retail bank in Africa by customer base. One bank with 28,000 employees across more than 600 branches, spanning three continents, 12 countries and with 29 million customers,” Wigwe tweeted.