First Bank of Nigeria Limited is supporting schools with an array of
educational based products and solutions targeted at enabling the
acquisition of various facilities to boost the continuous expansion and
improvement of the educational sector. Parents are not left out, as the
Bank has bespoke products that empower parents and guardians to meet
the educational needs of their children.
The Bank’s educational products and solutions include the FirstEdu
Loan, Operational Vehicle Loan, Term Loans for constructing new sites
and extension of existing sites, Personal Loan Against Salary (PLAS) and
FirstAdvance which enhances Parents/Guardians’ capacity to pay their
wards’ school fees.
The FirstEdu loan offers short-term finance to private pre-primary,
primary and secondary schools/ registered A level educational
institutions with steady flow of income. The product offers opportunity
for private schools to access flexible funding to meet urgent cash flow
needs, replace old furniture and equipment or assets, purchase of
fairly-used school buses, as well as refurbishing dilapidated buildings
and classroom blocks. This product helps school owners/proprietors in
bridging the “no-income” gap between school terms, and to enhance
diverse assets acquisition. It allows schools access up to N20 million
with no tangible collateral required apart from the domiciliation of
school fees with the Bank. Schools with CAC registration that are yet to
get Ministry of Education approval can access up to N2million without
collateral for up to 90days. In a bid to cushion the effect of covid-19
pandemic, the Bank is in partnership with Lagos State Employment Trust
Fund (LSETF) to finance low-cost private schools at a single digit
interest rate where schools can access up to N5million.
The Bank is also in partnership with the apex association of private
school owners in Nigeria, National Association of Proprietors of Private
Schools (NAPPS) to finance member schools at a highly competitive rate.
This reduces the cost of borrowing to the customer and eliminates the
challenges posed by the provision of additional demanding collaterals.
The Operational Vehicle Loan is targeted at registered businesses. It
allows the entrepreneur to acquire brand new vehicles for the day to day
operation of the business. Organisations can take advantage of this
facility to purchase school buses in the case of school proprietors and
even upscale their staff welfare schemes through provision of staff
buses. The product terms and conditions is competitive.
Personal Loan against Salary (PLAS) offers customers in paid employment
access to cash to meet immediate financial needs such as payment of
school fees, medical treatment, holiday expenses, etc. PLAS has a
flexible repayment plan spread up to 48 months for our customers’
convenience. There is no equity contribution or collateral requirement.
FirstAdvance is a 30days tenured digital loan also available to salary
customers who are in need of assistance to meet immediate financial
needs. It empowers customers to access upto 50% of their net monthly
salary in less than a minute at any desired time by dialing *894*11# or
through our FirstMobile App. Only a salary account domiciled with
FirstBank will qualify you for PLAS and FirstAdvance.
Beyond these, FirstBank is at the forefront of promoting virtual
learning, whilst exposing not just school children but individuals of
all ages to various e-learning initiatives, designed to promote
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.
In achieving this, the Bank has collaborated with Lagos State
government, 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.
Speaking on the Bank’s support for schools, Mr. Chuma Ezirim,
FirstBank’s Group Executive, e-Business & Retail Products, said “at
FirstBank, we recognize the indelible roles the educational sector plays
in promoting national economic development and we are delighted to
support schools with collateral free educational solutions to meet
various needs and projects to advance to the next level.”
“As schools proceed with the new term, we enjoin interested schools
to visit the nearest branch or the Bank’s website for more
information and encourage everyone to access our e-learning driven
initiatives to keep learning and get exposed to various opportunities to
stay ahead in today’s technologically advanced world.”
About FirstBank
First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) is the premier Bank in West
Africa and the leading financial inclusion services provider in Nigeria
for over 126 years.
With over 750 business locations and over 86,300 Banking Agents spread
across 99% of the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria, FirstBank
provides a comprehensive range of retail and corporate financial
services to serve its over 30 million customers. The Bank has
international presence through its subsidiaries, FBN Bank (UK) Limited
in London and Paris, FBNBank in the Republic of Congo, Ghana, The
Gambia, Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Senegal, as well as a Representative
Office in Beijing.
The Bank has been handy at promoting digital payment in the country and
has issued over 10million cards, the first bank to achieve such a
milestone in the country. FirstBank’s cashless transaction drive
extends to having more than 10million people on its USSD Quick Banking
service through the nationally renowned *894# Banking code and over 4.5
million people on FirstMobile platform.
Since its establishment in 1894, FirstBank has consistently built
relationships with customers focusing on the fundamentals of good
corporate governance, strong liquidity, optimised risk management and
leadership. Over the years, the Bank has led the financing of private
investment in infrastructure development in the Nigerian economy by
playing key roles in the Federal Government’s privatisation and
commercialisation schemes. With its global reach, FirstBank provides
prospective investors wishing to explore the vast business opportunities
that are available in Nigeria, an internationally competitive
world-class brand and a credible financial partner.
FirstBank has been named “Most Valuable Bank Brand in Nigeria” six
times in a row (2011 – 2016) by the globally renowned “The Banker
Magazine” of the Financial Times Group; “Best Retail Bank in
Nigeria” for seven consecutive years (2011 – 2017) by the Asian
Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards and
“Best Bank in Nigeria” by Global Finance for 15 years. Our brand
purpose is always to put customers, partners and stakeholders at the
heart of our business, even as we standardise customer experience and
excellence in financial solutions across sub-Saharan Africa, in
consonance with our brand vision “To be the partner of the first
choice in building your future”. Our brand promise is always to
deliver the ultimate “gold standard” of value and excellence. This
commitment is anchored on our inherent values of passion, partnership
and people, to position You First in every respect.
