Africa: Nigeria’s banks stare down the barrel

First Bank of Nigeria’s modest head office is stationed at the marina in Lagos. Beyond the mid-morning traffic on the road in front of the building, past the shores of the marina, are two rather imposing oil rigs. 

When they first turned up, their presence confused locals. Oil rigs are usually stationed in oil producing regions in Nigeria, close to the Niger Delta, so why were they at the marina? Curious onlookers initially assumed that the rigs, which were owned by indigenous oil company SeaWolf Oilfield Services, were undergoing repairs and need not be in an oil producing region.