FirstBank Partners UN1TY Nigeria, Leads Sponsorship Of Voice Nigeria

LAGOS – First Bank of Nigeria Limited on Tuesday, August 25, 2020 announced its lead to sponsor the TV reality musical talent show – The Voice Nigeria, Season 3.

The talent show which is organised by UN1TY Nigeria is created to discover, nurture and bring to the fore musical talents amongst the next generation of Nigerian youth.

Voice Nigeria will be produced for the first time in Nigeria and will be aired on DSTV channel (Africa Magic), Startimes and terrestrial TV channel (AIT), amongst other leading television stations within and outside the country.
Nigerians are expected to see the very best of talents on stage in the course of the competition.

The musical talent hunt show would start with blind auditions to be submitted upon being shortlisted after a successful registration, then battle auditions which then move out of the rooms and straight into the arenas, with hopefuls having to perform in front of an arena audience from the start in the hope of making it through to the next stage.

According to Folake Ani-Mumuney, Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, FirstBank, the Voice Nigeria will be hosted by Nancy Isime, Toke Makinwa and the coaches are Dare Art Alade, Folarin Falana (aka Falz), Yemi Alade and Aituaje Iruobe (aka Waje).

She said, “Interested participants are to register via the link www.thevoicenigeria.com with their FirstBank account number as a requirement. Should one not have an account with the Bank, then dial the Bank’s USSD code, *894*0# to be a FirstBank account holder. The audition is open to individuals within the age of 18 -50 years who are have been residing in Nigeria for 12 consecutive months. The registration for audition is open from 25 August – 19 September 2020.”

There are numerous awesome prizes up for grabs. The winner of the show will be go home with whooping ten million naira cash; a brand new car and an exciting one-year recording contract reward with Universal Music.

Folake Ani-Mumuney stated further, “We are delighted to be the lead sponsor of The Voice Nigeria, this partnership is hinged on our Brand’s passion to empower and invest in our youths. FirstBank has given voice to the young and indeed all Nigerians for the past 126 years, and will continue to give voice to Nigerians by creating employment, economic empowerment in the country through our products, services and initiatives. We remain committed to strengthening the creative industry which is fast growing into a multibillion-dollar business, with potential to be a leading contributor to Nigeria’s GDP in the near future.

“We commend UN1TY Nigeria for The Voice Nigeria as our sponsorship is in recognition of the vast talents Nigeria is blessed with which we are delighted to promote, thereby having a positive impact on the Nigerian entertainment industry. We enjoin everyone to follow our social media channels for more details on the programme, whilst also staying locked on their TV screen. More details would be provided in the course of the weeks through our social media channels.

“The show promises to be engaging, full of surprises and with fun-filled excitement to our viewers”.

According to research disclosed in PWC’s recent Entertainment & Media Outlook report, Nigeria’s entertainment is expected to rise from $4.46 billion in 2018 to a $10.5 billion market by the end of 2023.

In addition, with this initiative and other sponsored event targeted at the youth, the premier Bank in Nigeria, FirstBank, is committed to strengthening its contribution to the development of the entertainment industry in the country.

First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) is the premier Bank in West Africa and the leading financial inclusion services provider in Nigeria for over 125 years.

With over 750 business locations and over 57,000 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 15 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 nimble at promoting digital payment in the country and has issued over 10million cards, the first bank to achieve such milestone in the country. FirstBank’s cashless transaction drive extends to having more than 9million people on its USSD Quick Banking service through the nationally renowned *894# Banking code and over 3 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.

The Bank’s brand purpose is to always 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 first choice in building your future”.

“Our brand promise is to always 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, Folake Ani-Mumuney posited.