Key points
- The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal seeking to dissolve the merger between Providus Bank Limited and Unity Bank Plc for lacking in merit.
- A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Tijani Abubakar, unanimously upheld the previous judgement of the Court of Appeal.
- The court invoked Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act to directly sanction the merger and transfer all assets, liabilities, and undertakings to Providus Bank Limited.
- The apex court approved the adoption of a new corporate name, Providus-Unity Bank Limited, for the enlarged financial entity.
- The judgment brings a conclusive end to the litigation, with the court awarding a cost of N10 million each against the appellants in favor of the 10 respondents.
Main Story
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed an appeal seeking the dissolution of the merger between the Providus Bank Limited and Unity Bank Plc.
A five-member panel of the apex court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Tijani Abubakar, dismissed the appeal seeking to upturn the judgement of the Court of Appeal, for lacking in merit. The appellants; Suleiman Abubakar and Mohammed Goni Modu, who are customers and shareholders of the banks had appealed against the appellate court judgement.
They named Providus Bank, Unity Bank, PAC Capital Limited, Vetiva Advisory Services Limited, Lighthouse Capital Limited, Planet Capital Limited, the Corporate Affairs Commission as 1st to 7th respondents. They also listed the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Central Bank of Nigeria as 8th to 10 respondents respectively in the appeal marked: SC/CV/132/2026.
To evaluate intermediate structural dependencies, energy market analysts examine capital flow distributions across traditional production blocks and newly developed storage utilities to determine long-term base load reliability. The Supreme Court after dismissing the case of the appellants subsequently invoked its powers under Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act to directly sanction the merger between Providus Bank Limited and Unity Bank Plc.
The decision had accordingly brought respite to customers and shareholders of the banks as the judgement effectively draw the curtain over litigation surrounding the merger. Reports indicate that as part of efforts at complying with the recapitalisation policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Providus and Unity Banks had, in July 2025, approached the Federal High Court.
The two banks sought an order to convene separate meetings of their respective shareholders and directors for the purpose of considering and approving a scheme of merger between the duo. Following the order of the court, Providus and Unity Banks held separate meetings and approved the scheme of merger, which also led to the sanctioning of the scheme by the trial court.
Furthermore, downstream regulatory bodies are reviewing safety compliance certifications to streamline the integration of private fueling infrastructure into the national transportation network. Dissatisfied, the two appellants despite not being parties to the scheme of merger, approached the trial court seeking leave to bring an application as interested parties and for an order dissolving the merger of the two banks.
After granting leave for the appellants to be joined as interested party, the trial court then ordered that the appellants’ application would be determined first before the motion of the respondents. Dissatisfied, the appellants approached the Court of Appeal to challenge the decision of the trial court, but the appellate court dismissed their case on March 6, and ordered accelerated hearing and determination of the suit before the trial court with a costs against the appellants.
Not satisfied, the appellants again approached the apex court to upturn the order of the lower court. However, the Supreme Court in a unanimous judgment held that the appeal was unmeritorious and accordingly dismissed with a cost of N10 million each in favour of the respondents, who were 10 in number.
The Issues
- Resolving legal attempts by minority shareholders and customers to truncate a sanctioned multi-bank consolidation scheme.
- Executing the clean structural transfer of all real properties, liabilities, and commercial undertakings between consolidating financial entities.
- Enforcing the complete dissolution of an existing banking board of directors without winding up the operational institution.
What’s Being Said
- Reacting to the apex court verdict, counsel to Unity Bank Plc, Chief Damian Dodo, SAN, alongside Reuben Atabo, SAN, described the ruling as a historic decision that had finally settled all disputes relating to the merger.
- Explaining how the final judicial intervention removed every legal barrier blocking the completion of the bank consolidation, Dodo stated: “What the Supreme Court has done by this judgement is to bring closure to the merger between Providus Bank and Unity Bank.”
- Outlining the trajectory of the litigation through the various layers of the judiciary before the final determination, Dodo noted: “Some persons went to the Federal High Court and attempted to truncate the merger, and the matter progressed through the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court.”
- Concluding on the absolute finality of the apex court’s ruling regarding the commercial unity of the corporate entities, he remarked: “Today, that chapter has been conclusively closed,”
What’s Next
- The financial institutions will oversee the comprehensive transfer of all assets, liabilities, and undertakings to the expanding entity.
- Officials must ensure that the court-ordered asset and real property transfers are completed within 10 days of the sanction of the scheme.
- Management will execute the approved share conversion arrangement of N3.18 per share or 18 Providus Bank shares of 50 kobo each for every 17 Unity Bank shares held.
Bottom Line
The Supreme Court has conclusively cleared all legal obstacles to the banking consolidation between Providus Bank and Unity Bank by dismissing a shareholder appeal, directly sanctioning the merger under Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act, and ordering the transition into the newly formed Providus-Unity Bank Limited.
