FirstBank has restated its commitment to promoting ethical standards among young professionals as students from the University of Benin emerged champions of the 2025 CFA Society Nigeria Universities Ethics Challenge held in Lagos.

Speaking on the bank’s motivation for sponsoring the competition since 2016, the acting group head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at FirstBank, Olayinka Ijabiyi, said the bank sees ethics as the foundation of corporate governance and long-term institutional stability.

According to him, ethics remains central to the growth of both private and public institutions and must be entrenched early among future professionals. “Ethics is the anchor of corporate governance, and without good corporate governance, you do not have good institutions.”

He added that the bank views the challenge as an opportunity to reach the next generation of business leaders. According to him, when young people understand the basics of ethics, they become ambassadors who can practise what they have learnt and apply it to real cases.

Ijabiyi said the bank would remain committed to the programme, noting that FirstBank had been in operation for over a century due to its strong ethical culture. He called on individuals and organisations to uphold ethical behaviour in all dealings, stressing that no institution could achieve sustainability without it.

He also said the bank expected the next edition of the competition to be bigger as the sponsorship will continue. At the event, the University of Benin clinched the top position. The University of Nigeria, Nsukka, placed second, while Covenant University came third.

Ahmadu Bello University Zaria placed fourth while Lagos State University placed fifth and the University of Ilorin placed sixth. Obafemi Awolowo University placed seventh while Bells University of Technology Ota placed eighth. The Faculty Adviser of the Year award went to Dr Oluwasogo Adediran of Covenant University.

Team leader of the winning University of Benin group, Abhareyi Isaac, said the victory was a result of collective effort and dedication. He said the team members worked cooperatively despite fears and stiff competition from other universities.

He described the win as overwhelming and thanked CFA Society Nigeria and FirstBank for the platform.

He added that the team had remained confident ahead of the contest and commended other schools for their strong presentations.

The 2025 edition featured eight finalists out of 31 participating universities who presented case studies and answered questions from a panel of judges.