Billionaire investor and Group Chairman of First Bank Holdings, Femi Otedola, has broken his silence on the bank’s staggering N748 billion write-off of legacy non-performing loans, framing it as a painful but necessary strategy for long-term health.
In a post on his X account on Saturday, Otedola explained that the one-time charge—which caused a 92% drop in reported profits—was a deliberate decision to confront old bad debts head-on rather than hide them.
“At First HoldCo we decided to clean house properly. We took a huge one-time hit of N748bn to admit old bad loans instead of pretending they do not exist. That is why profit looks like it crashed by 92 per cent. Painful headline, but it is a serious long-term move,” Otedola wrote.
He emphasized that the move aligns with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive encouraging transparency in dealing with non-performing loans. The write-off aims to restore stakeholder confidence and strengthen the bank’s financial foundation after years of accumulating problematic assets.
Otedola’s statement highlights a growing trend among Nigerian banks to take bold, short-term painful steps to ensure sustainable growth and rebuild investor trust. By clearing these legacy obligations, First Bank positions itself for a more stable and transparent future, even at the cost of dramatic headlines.
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