As part of activities to mark its 75th anniversary, Africa’s Global Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has teamed up with Mastercard to introduce a special commemorative Debit Card.

This exclusive card offers UBA customers exciting deals and attractive discounts across multiple platforms, enhancing their banking experience in a memorable way. 

The commemorative card which was unveiled at the bank’s corporate head office in Marina, Lagos, on Wednesday, is a custom-built card created with the intention of appreciating customers and other users for their loyalty throughout the seven and half decades of impactful journey.

UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, who spoke at the unveiling, emphasised that the card, comes loaded with irresistible benefits aimed at impressing customers, including 25% off purchases on Jumia and $75 cashback on transactions made through AliExpress.

This according to him, symbolizes the shared vision between UBA and Mastercard towards empowering Africans by enhancing customer experience through secure and convenient transactions.

He said, “This new card represents the deepening of our relationship and our shared mission to empower millions of Nigerians and Africans, providing them with access to secure transactions and new opportunities across the continent.

The GMD also disclosed the bank’s plans to unveil similar products across all its subsidiaries, adding, “We are proud of this collaboration, and we are confident that Mastercard’s role in Africa will only grow stronger in the coming years.”

The President, Africa, Mastercard, Mark Elliot, who expressed gratitude to the management of the bank on the partnership, emphasised the importance and potential of the partnership with UBA.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with UBA, which we know is one of the best banks in Africa. For us, it is a privilege to work with a partner that shares our commitment towards digitizing the continent and enhancing customer experience through secure and convenient transactions.”

Elliot who noted the immense opportunities in the African payment ecosystem, said the organisation looks forward to exploring them with UBA. “Africa is currently one of the most attractive payment markets worldwide, and it’s clear that by 2030, the continent will likely become the fastest-growing equity market,” he said.

“Meeting the UBA management is always inspiring, as we always come up with bold and strategic ideas, and today is no exception. We are excited to match our shared ambitions,” Elliot stated.

United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading Pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than thirty-five million customers, across 1,000 business offices and customer touch points in 20 African countries. With presence in New York, London, Paris and Dubai, UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail, commercial and corporate banking, innovative cross-border payments and remittances, trade finance and ancillary banking services.

Akwa Ibom State has been identified as Nigeria’s most creditworthy state. This is attributed to its strong fiscal position, allowing it to sustain its debt obligations and borrow further.

The verdict was delivered by Budgit, a Nigerian civic organisation that examines state and national budgets and applies technology for citizen engagement with a view at institutional improvement, in its State of the States Report 2024 Edition themed “Moving Healthcare Delivery from suboptimal to optimal”

According to Budgit, Akwa Ibom came tops in the States Performance on Index C, scoring 0.227. The report declared that states who score high are determined “by their debt-to-revenue ratio, and personnel cost to revenue ratio”.

“In contrast, states that rank lower on Index C need to check their appetite for the acquisition of more debt as they appear to be either above or very close to solvency for debt-to-revenue ratio, foreign debt to total debt, debt service-to-revenue ratio, and personnel cost to revenue ratio.

“The lower ranking states may need to rapidly adopt Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models in delivering public goods due to their relatively poorer credit worthiness.

“The state (Akwa Ibom) owing to its relatively low foreign debt to total debt ratio, ranked the most debt-sustainable state among the 36 states”

For Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State who has not borrowed any funds either domestic or foreign since assumption of office, this report further validates the government’s position on prudent management of state resources for the greater good of the people.

In the same report, Budgit indicated that regarding health expenditure, the state allocated funds for purchasing health and medical equipment, construction and provision of hospitals and health centres, purchasing drugs, renovating and building new primary healthcare centres and boosting health training.

It then stated “Overall, Akwa Ibom is working towards enhancing its healthcare system having spent about N1billion on primary healthcare and medical equipment. Still, there may be opportunities to increase investment in the sector to fully meet the population’s healthcare needs”

In response to allegations by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) about high fuel prices from the refinery, and importing cheaper fuel, Dangote Refinery has said that its ex-depot price of petrol ia pegged at N990 per litre for sale into trucks, and N960 for ships.

While defending pricing strategy, the refinery insisted that its rates are competitive and in line with international standards.

The refinery, in a statement signed by the company’s Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, claimed that the assertions made by IPMAN and PETROAN that they can land cheaper petroleum products meant that they were importing substandard products into the country.

“We had lately refrained from engaging in media fights, but we are constrained to respond to the recent misinformation being circulated by IPMAN, PETROAN, and other associations.

“Both organisations claim that they can import PMS at lower prices than what is being sold by the Dangote Refinery. We benchmark our prices against international prices, and we believe our prices are competitive relative to the price of imports. If anyone claims they can land PMS at a price cheaper than what we are selling, then they are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low quality products into the country, without concern for the health of Nigerians or the longevity of their vehicles.

Unfortunately, the regulator (NMDPRA) does not even have laboratory facilities which can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.

“Post deregulation, NNPC set the pace by selling PMS to domestic marketers at N971 per litre for sale into ships and at N990 for sale into trucks. This set the benchmark for our pricing, and we have even gone lower to sell at N960 per litre for sale into ships while maintaining N990 per litre for sale into trucks.

“In good faith, and in the interest of the country, we commenced sales at these prices without clarity on the exchange rate that we will use to pay for the crude purchased.

“At the same time, an international trading company has recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, with the objective of using it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher quality production.

“This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria. We should point out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries in order to provide jobs and grow the economy. For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips in order to protect their domestic industries.

“While we continue with our determination to provide affordable, good quality, domestically refined petroleum product in Nigeria, we call on the public to disregard the deliberate disinformation being circulated by agents of people who prefer for us to continue to export jobs and import poverty” he stated.