The Group Managing Director of United Bank for Africa Plc and Chairman of the Body of Bank CEOs in Nigeria, Oliver Alawuba, has outlined a blueprint for building a resilient Nigerian economy, calling for deliberate policies and stronger public-private collaboration to transform economic stability into inclusive prosperity.

Alawuba made the call while delivering a goodwill address at the 19th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Building a Resilient Economy in an Era of Disruptions: Imperatives for the Banking and Financial Services Industry,’ he noted that resilience must be intentionally embedded across national policies, institutions, infrastructure, supply chains, energy systems, and human capital.

According to him, a resilient economy is not one immune to shocks, but one capable of absorbing, adapting to, and advancing through disruptions without shifting the financial burden onto vulnerable citizens.

He highlighted ongoing global macroeconomic headwinds, including geopolitical tensions, shipping market volatility, and persistent inflationary pressures, as factors underscoring the need for proactive structural buffers.

Alawuba commended the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria for improved fiscal and monetary policy coordination, noting that positive trends in key economic indicators represent vital steps toward stabilisation.

He, however, stressed that macroeconomic recovery must translate into broader commercial opportunities and improved living standards for citizens.

Describing commercial banks as the country’s primary financial shock absorbers, the UBA boss disclosed that 33 banks successfully mobilised N4.65tn during the recent recapitalisation exercise. He stated that the capital raise significantly reinforced balance-sheet transparency, capital adequacy, and liquidity required to finance large-scale infrastructure and real-sector projects.

He added that operational resilience within the banking sector is being deepened through heavy technology investments, noting that four tier-one banks deployed over N119bn into digital infrastructure and cybersecurity in the first quarter of 2026, marking a 43.2 per cent year-on-year increase.

Also speaking at the conference, President Bola Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, urged financial institutions to look beyond profit margins and channel patient capital toward job-creating enterprises.

The President stressed that the next phase of ongoing reforms centers on transitioning from basic financial intermediation to real economic transformation through accessible credit and technology-driven financial inclusion.

On his part, the Governor of the CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, represented by the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy Directorate, Mr Philip Ikeazor, reaffirmed the central bank’s commitment to maintaining financial system stability to anchor recovery.

Similarly, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mathew Verghis, tasked commercial lenders with expanding credit facilities to productive micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises.

Earlier in his opening address, the President and Chairman of Council, CIBN, Prof. Pius Olanrewaju, noted that the ultimate benchmark of economic reform lies in lower living costs, expanded job opportunities, and affordable single-digit credit for businesses.

Nigeria imported textiles and textile articles worth N578.51 billion in the first six months of 2026, reflecting continued pressure on the domestic textile industry as stakeholders push for stronger support for local production.

Latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in the second quarter of 2026 showed that textile imports rose by 2.2 per cent from N565.95bn recorded in the first half of 2025.

The latest figure also extended a long-term increase in Nigeria’s dependence on imported textiles. Textile and textile article imports stood at N365.46bn in 2022 before rising to N377.47bn in 2023, N726.18bn in 2024 and N1.06tn in 2025.

Year-on-year, textile imports increased by 3.3 per cent in 2023, surged by 92.4 per cent in 2024 and climbed by 46.1 per cent in 2025. The 2.2 per cent increase recorded in the first half of 2026, however, points to a much slower growth pace than the sharp increases in the preceding two full years.

Speaking at the Industrial Revolution Work Group Technical Session II held in Lagos on 10 September, the Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said the decline of the textile industry had severely affected employment and production capacity.

“Textiles are an important area. During my first assignment in the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, I was coordinating seven states from Abuja to Kaduna, which had seven textile industries. Today there is zero. So it tells the story,” Ajayi-Kadir said.

He added that the industry previously employed about 25,000 workers, stressing that the demand for clothing provided a strong market for domestic textile production. “But the fact remains that everybody must wear something. So there is no need for us to overemphasise the fact that it is important and it is an area that we play,” the MAN DG remarked.

Ajayi-Kadir noted that manufacturers needed to revive the cotton-textile-garment value chain and strengthen domestic demand for locally produced goods. “It has suffered negative growth,” he affirmed.

Ajayi-Kadir hinted at recovery, adding, “What we need to do is revive the cotton-textile-garment value chain input supply. And this is already being done.”

The MAN director-general also pointed to the Federal Government’s efforts to increase the uptake of locally manufactured products through its procurement policies. “We must sign on to export facilitation and Made-in-Nigeria public uptake. To give effect to this, we’ve had the Made-in-Nigeria Executive Order, and it’s now supported by ‘Nigeria First’ (policy),” he said.

Other stakeholders have also highlighted the potential for the domestic industry to recover and expand beyond the Nigerian market.

In an earlier report, the President of the Association of Women in Fashion Tech, Bukola Ajani, told The PUNCH that the local textile industry was being reinvigorated and could increasingly serve markets in other African countries and Europe.

The focus on textiles also forms part of the work of thematic group four of the Industrial Revolution Work Group, which is dedicated to Made-in-Nigeria Patronage and Anti-Counterfeit.

The group is addressing issues including public perception, standard laboratories, smuggling, procurement misalignment and the decline of the textile, pharmaceutical and steel sectors.

The IRWG, co-chaired by the Minister of State for Industry, Sen. John Enoh, and the President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Francis Meshioye, is, among others, expected to support measures aimed at strengthening domestic production and increasing patronage of Nigerian-made goods.

As the Federal Government moves to implement the Nigeria First policy, more consumers are also turning to locally produced textile brands, including Merok, produced by Onchek, a brand founded in 2016.

Talks over the possible transfer of Mafab Communications’ 5G spectrum to MTN Nigeria are reopening debate over the value of the $273.6m spectrum holding and its implications for competition and investment in Nigeria’s next-generation mobile market.

Industry sources who spoke to The PUNCH on Thursday confirmed that discussions over a possible sale had taken place, although no concrete deal had been reached and any transfer would require regulatory approval and engagement with other stakeholders.

If Mafab’s spectrum moves to MTN, the operator, which already controls half of Nigeria’s mobile market, would potentially have more frequency resources to deploy alongside its existing network infrastructure.

“The potential deal creates a difficult balance for the regulator. Additional spectrum could enable an established operator like MTN to improve service quality and deploy capacity more efficiently, while greater concentration of spectrum could alter the competitive position of operators that do not have comparable network infrastructure or financial resources,” Telecom consultant Ejikeme Onyeaso told The PUNCH.

Mafab and MTN each paid $273.6m for 100MHz blocks in the 3.5GHz band after emerging as winners of the Nigerian Communications Commission’s 2021 5G spectrum auction.

MTN subsequently paid an additional $15.9m at the assignment stage to secure the 3500–3600MHz block, while Mafab was assigned the 3700–3800MHz block without an additional payment.

The auction was designed to support the introduction of 5G while widening the number of operators with access to high-capacity spectrum. MTN, Mafab and Airtel submitted bids for the two available 100MHz lots before MTN and Mafab emerged as the winners.

The potential combination of Mafab’s spectrum with MTN’s extensive network and tower infrastructure could significantly strengthen the operator’s ability to expand capacity and coverage, according to an industry executive.

“The deal could benefit MTN subscribers if the additional spectrum enabled the operator to improve network capacity and coverage, particularly as demand for mobile data continued to rise. It could also make the operator more attractive to investors,” the executive argued, adding that the move could increase pressure on competing networks.

Nearly five years after the auction, Nigeria’s mobile market is developing at different speeds, with 5G adoption growing from its early stages while 4G continues to account for more than half of mobile connections. The divergence leaves operators balancing investment in newer networks with the immediate demands of their existing customer base.

An industry executive familiar with the telecoms market, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, questioned why Mafab had not developed a stronger independent ecosystem around the spectrum it acquired.

The executive argued that the industry needed to understand the reasons for Mafab’s experience before assessing the implications of a potential transfer to MTN, while also questioning how the transaction could affect the spectrum position of other major operators, particularly Airtel and Globacom.

“From a spectrum standpoint, we need to understand what position MTN put in, vis-a-vis other operators,” the executive, who also owns a telecoms firm, told The PUNCH.

Our correspondent reached out to MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications for comments on the deal but had not received responses as of the time of filing this report.