Heritage Bank joins forces with Gail Sickle Initiative to rescue sickle cell patients
Heritage Bank Plc has upped the ante of its support in the corporate social responsibility space by joining forces with Gail Sickle Initiative to rescue people living with sickle cell anaemia.
The partnership with Gail Sickle Initiative, a non-profit organisation, according to the Executive Director, Heritage Bank, Osepiribo Ben-Willie with its back-to-school project support, is to ameliorate the burden of sickle cell persons in Nigeria and to ensure that all affected persons live normal pain-free lives.
She stated it has become of concern to Heritage Bank to help alleviate the burden as over 40million Nigerians are healthy carriers of the sickle cell gene, whilst 150, 000 children are born with the disorder. This, according to her, is by far the largest burden of sickle cell disorder around the world especially Nigeria and most of these children die in childhood from lack of access to early diagnosis and proper care.
“In Heritage Bank, health is a priority, that is why we want to continue partnering and supporting the NGO, Gail Sickle Initiative on welfare support, early detection and improved treatment and proper care,” she said.
Ben-Willie further affirmed that said that Heritage Bank in partnership with Gail Sickle Initiative is synergizing to create significant awareness and support for individuals affected by the disease.
Speaking at an event, the convener of Gail Sickle Initiative, Oluwafemi Ajayi, disclosed that with the support from Heritage Bank, the NGO has gone beyond its support to her members whom she refers to as winning warriors, to supporting and donating to people living with the sickle cell disease across the country.
According to her, as an organisation that supplies supplements to winning warriors, the Gail Sickle Initiative partnered with Heritage Bank and with the funds provided went beyond the organisations’ members and reached out to other winning warriors who have no parental support and to those in various hospital to give them supplements and offset the bill of some who were unable to pay their bills.
Ajayi further stated that Sickle Cell disorder poses various challenges to the carriers like the health challenge, stigmatisation, economic challenge amongst others.
According to her, the Gail Sickle Initiative focused on how to cover every aspect of these challenges by birthing the Sicklepreneur, this aids the warriors to be trained so they can acquire relevant skills and equip themselves to be independent. Therefore, apart from trying to eradicate the sickle cell disease, they ensure that the stigmatisation label on the warriors does not result in depression for them.
She encouraged other corporate organisations to learn from Heritage Bank’s sterling example to the winning warriors by supporting the initiative and further contributed towards the back-to-school project with relevant items donated.
Olajide Adediran, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Lagos State, has slammed the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for criticising his visit to some of the traffic offenders whose vehicles were recently auctioned by the state government.
Videos from the exercise had gone viral on social media after affected persons who couldn’t reclaim their vehicles through the bidding process were seen crying profusely.
Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, visited some of the victims at the weekend and reportedly promised humane traffic measures against traffic violators if elected governor in 2023.
But Jandor’s action did not sit well with the Governor Sanwo-Olu-led APC government which accused the PDP candidate of being desperate, promoting lawlessness, and playing politics with human lives.
The PDP candidate, in a response issued by the head of communications of his campaign organisation, Gbenga Ogunleye, clarified that he was encouraging residents of the state to be lawless.
He said in punishing traffic offenders, the state government must ensure that the measures they adopt do not “destroy” the people.
“We must realise that laws are made for the people and not people for the law. Therefore, all laws must bear a human face and seek to correct rather than destroy the very citizens that they were made for.
“In this instance, the penalty for breaking the law in question amounted to killing an ant with a sledgehammer and will potentially create more problems than it was meant to solve.
“One may wonder why a state government that is supposed to cater for the welfare of the people is so intent on taking away the means of livelihood of the same people when other measures, such as hefty fines, could have served as a deterrent to potential offenders?
“Their pathetic outburst could be the wild ranting of a dying hegemony having realised that their game is up and Lagosians are now sick and tired of the poor governance that they have been subjected to for the past 23 years and are now craving for the breath of fresh air, which the dynamic duo of Adediran and Olufunke Akindele represent,” read the statement.
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has refused to disqualify the candidates of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi and All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, from participating in the 2023 presidential election.
The court, in a judgement that was delivered on Monday by Justice Donatus Okorowo, held that a suit the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) instituted against the two presidential candidates lacked merit and deserved to be dismissed.
PDP had approached the court, accusing both Peter Obi and Tinubu of acting in breach of the Electoral Act.
The PDP told the court that contrary to provisions of the electoral law, both Obi and Tinubu, failed to nominate their running mates in due time, choosing rather to temporarily hand over their Vice Presidential tickets to placeholders.
PDP told the court that whereas the candidate of the Labour Party, Obi, chose Dr Doyin Okupe as the placeholder for his Vice Presidential post, the other hand, candidate of the APC, Tinubu, submitted the name of Kabiru Masari as his own placeholder.
Plaintiff, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1016/2022, contended that the Electoral Act, 2022, did not make provision for a “place holder” or temporary running mate.
The opposition party argued that the subsequent resignation, withdrawal or substitution of Okupe and Masari, by both the LP and the APC, were illegal and unconstitutional.
PDP maintained that Obi and Tinubu could only qualify to contest the 2023 presidential election with Okupe and Masari, as their respective running mate.
It further argued that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was bereft of the power to accept any withdrawal or substitution of both Okupe and Masari, without the LP and the APC conducting fresh primaries to substitute Obi and Tinubu.
PDP told the court that both Okupe and Masari are not products of any primary election and as such was not validly nominated by the LP and the APC.
Delivering ruling on Monday, Justice Okorowo held that the suit was not only incompetent but amounted to gross abuse of the judicial process.
The court held that it lacked the jurisdiction to entertain an incompetent suit and accordingly dismissed it.
A mild drama ensued on Sunday in Niamey as a herbalist poured blood on Kwara United FC players ahead of their second leg confederation cup match with AS Douanes FC.
Kwara United side had won the first leg of the clash by three goals to nil at the Mobolaji Jonhson Arena in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
The second leg which was to hold at the Senyi Kountche stadium in Niamey, however, took a dramatic turn when a herbalist was captured on camera pouring blood on the players and in the team bus as they alighted.
The herbalist’s accomplice also held a black goat and both were dressed in Nigerien colours with their faces covered with a turban.
The video which was shared on the verified Twitter handle of Kwara United FC, showed the chairman of the club Kumbi Titiloye, instructing the players to return to the team bus insisting that the team is not going to play.
“#CAFCC happening now! AS Douanes hired herbalists poured blood on Kwara United FC players as they are about entering the field. The two herbalists, one with keg of blood & the other with goat performed the act when the players are coming down from the bus. NO single policeman,” the Nigerian club tweeted.
The match which was eventually played after the initial delay ended in a goalless draw with Kwara United qualifying for the second round of the CAF Confederation Cup by 3 aggregate goals.
African Football has been rocked with diabolism with FIFA cracking down on herbal/traditional medicine during the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa
#CAFCC HAPPENING NOW AT NIGER! AS Douanes hired herbalists poured blood on @KwaraUnitedFC players as they are about entering the field. The 2 herbalists, 1 with keg of blood & the other with goat performed the act when the players are coming down from the bus. NO single policeman pic.twitter.com/jMt8FiEBrz
– Praises Hamzat for his dedication to service of Lagos
The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, says the State remains proud to have Dr. Obafemi Hamzat as its Deputy Governor.
Dr. Obasa said this on Sunday in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Eromosele Ebhomele, celebrating Dr. Hamzat, who clocks 58 on Monday, September 19.
According to the Speaker, the Deputy Governor has shown, consistently, his commitment, dedication and passion to the goal of making Lagos an enviable State in Nigeria and one admired by the world.
He added that Hamzat at 58, remains a perfect example of a technocrat who is not only effective in the discharge of his duties, but uses all within his powers to ensure the good of the majority.
The Speaker further noted the seamless running of the Lagos government made up of the Executive, legislative and judicial arms, attributing this to the knowledge, wisdom and zeal of leaders including Hamzat to make the State constantly habitable for the residents.
“I congratulate Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, my brother and friend in the service of Lagos and the nation as he marks his 58th birthday.
“To say Lagos is not tired of him is just saying the obvious. He has helped, over time, to lift the civil service of our dear State to an enviable height.
“We are happy to have him serve Lagos as Deputy Governor at this time, especially with his knowledge of how our dear State works.
“Again, it is noteworthy that our Deputy Governor has consistently shown beyond every reasonable doubt what a dependable ally in the scheme of progress he is.
“He has always been a loyal team player with fantastic knowledge and managerial skills. His records of service and achievements cannot be under-emphasised and have been sources of encouragement for many.
“We remain proud of him as we wish him more divine knowledge, wisdom and vitality to carry on in the service of Allah and the people.
“Happy birthday tfrom me and my colleagues at the Lagos State House of Assembly,” the statement read.
Eromosele Ebhomele
Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
H.E Amb Tukur Yusufu Buratai (Lt Gen Rtd) met with the All Progressive Congress (APC), Presidential flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Abuja. Although the details of the meeting is not disclosed, but it may not be unconnected with the 2023 elections.
H.E Amb Tukur Yusufu Buratai, is a personality with vast experience and admirable track record.
Given his reputable track record as a war tested General, and the longest serving Chief of Army Staff in Nigeria’s history, and as a diplomat, HE Buratai is vastly experienced in strategic leadership and human resource management.
He would certainly add great value to APC’s victory in next year’s general elections and the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s President.
We foresee a lot of electoral value coming the way of the APC as a result of the fusion of forces of these great leaders and FUSION NIGERIA would like to call on all Nigerians to support the APC to ensure its resounding victory in next year’s polls.
Joining forces of the two leaders could mean well for the APC party, it is also an indication of a stronger ties for BAT in the build up of the presidential election.
This could mean alot for the success of the APC in the up coming general elections.
The Lagos State Government has defended the ‘controversial’ auctioning of 134 vehicles belonging to traffic offenders.
Lagos State Taskforce on Thursday auctioned the vehicles over different traffic offences.
Based on Lagos laws, the taskforce is to “carry out enforcement exercise which is confiscation of vehicles for traffic offenses, and handing them over to the Mobile Court (with evidence) for Judgement.”
The offences are in categories as some attract a fine.
“But some people run away from the Court Process, that’s why they have been forfeited to the State Government after the stipulated period (by law),” the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Governor of Lagos State on New Media, Jubril Gawat tweeted.
The auction has been described by Nigerians as opaque and shrouded in irregularity.
Imafidon Andy with Twitter handle @ImafidonAndy was one of the Nigerians who responded to Gawat.
Andy tweeted, “Your summation here then explains the due process that alluded to the decision to sell off the vehicles of these various offenders. The process has to become more refined to avoid all these emotional and physical damage that the current process affords. Give owners the opportunity.”
The Chief Press Secretary to Lagos State Governor, Gboyega Akosile in a response to the sympathiser, Andy, said the offenders where playing “emotional card.”
He said traffic related offenses in the state has led to the death of many Lagosians.
Akosile also denied any wrong doing as held by many Nigerians.
“Andy, the process has always been open and transparent. At any rate, why do we always jump in when people play emotional card over what is just and right? Do you know how many homes have been ruined due to one-way driving? Many children orphaned; women widowed,” he added.
The former Chief Of Army Staff and Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of Benin, Amb. Lt Gen.Tukur Buratai RTD has met with the presidential candidate of the All progressive Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Thursday, 15th Of September, 2022 in Abuja.
Although the details of the meeting is not disclosed but its not unconnected to the 2023 presidential election of which the revered Diplomats will play a key role for his party.
FIRSTBANK: THE EMBODIMENT OF CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Who should corporate responsibility and sustainability lessons be taken from? Some companies are still unclear about the concept but latching onto the sustainability mantra anyway, because it has become a marketing buzzword for business? Or a company through whose creed and deeds, over the many decades it has been around, people can see corporate responsibility and sustainability lived (first) and preached (subsequently)?
If the above set of questions constituted a question in an examination hall, it would be one of the easiest of questions to answer. Not one person would fail it. Outside the examination hall, the answer to this question that seems as easy and simple like the question of 2 + 2 may not be as easy and simple. It may be complicated by all the cleverly arranged noise and claims projected at people to make it difficult for them to see and accept the obvious.
So, it is incumbent on people who know, and care enough (like this writer), to keep stating and restating the obvious. This is in the hope that doing so would help others to take full cognisance of the obvious and not allow themselves to be bamboozled by image without substance and rhetoric without pedigree.
The concept of corporate responsibility and sustainability is not about the clever or manipulative use of marketing buzzwords by corporate citizens. It is about impact, net positive impact, in the lives of real, not imagined, people through the deliberate and well-planned activities of socially-responsible corporate citizens.
Even if history is no longer taught in most schools in Nigeria, the records are there. The records show that Nigeria has been blessed to have standing by her, at all times, a corporate citizen which understands the concept of corporate responsibility and sustainability.
This corporate citizen has been standing by Nigeria before the country’s founding, through its amalgamation, Independence and all the conflicts and crises Nigeria has gone through and still faces. Today, the corporate citizen still stands by Nigeria.
FirstBank of Nigeria Limited, a lender of unmatched pedigree, a bank with a history of unparalleled support to Nigeria and Nigerians (right from the colonial era to date, even serving as Nigeria’s central bank at some stage of our national development), has been a corporate citizen like no other.
A brand that has backed innumerable groundbreaking projects across Nigeria and beyond, FirstBank has demonstrated that real impact that can be seen and felt by all, and not mere marketing buzzwords, is the real measure of an institution’s understanding of corporate responsibility and sustainability.
It is incontrovertible that whichever way corporate responsibility and sustainability is understood or defined, FirstBank is sure to tick all the boxes. Just name every parameter for assessing a company’s efforts in corporate responsibility and sustainability and match each against what FirstBank has been doing. Is there any parameter that FirstBank has not surpassed?
FirstBank has been living corporate responsibility and sustainability for most, if not all, of its existence as a going concern. Knowing it cannot do it alone, the bank has also devoted resources to efforts that will enable it to preach or pass the message so other corporate citizens, groups and individuals will emulate it.
One platform the bank has used effectively for this purpose is its Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) Week. The CR&S Week is a full working week that the FirstBank Group, in-country and across the world where it operates, dedicates to the promotion, execution and celebration of social responsibility initiatives.
The Sustainability Week also includes a huge kindness campaign to reorient citizens towards the right values and reignite acts of kindness in society. It is only one of the many ways FirstBank is living true to its brand promise to always put customers first.
And the Sustainability Week seeks to invite others (individuals and corporate citizens) to follow the bank’s example and begin to intentionally create positive impact in their immediate communities.
From the inaugural edition in 2017, where the theme was “Promoting Kindness: Putting You First”, the Sustainability Week has helped to reinforce FirstBank’s role as a nation-builder that is driving sustainable development across communities where it operates. It was an opportunity for the bank to encourage others (individuals and corporate citizens) to follow in its steps, even if all they can afford to take are small steps.
Taking small steps may have informed the choice of theme for the second edition of the Sustainability Week in 2018: “Touching Lives: You First”. The bank sought to debunk the notion that touching lives in meaningful ways and making an impact on society require big-ticket projects, whilst emphasising the power in the little things people do and the small steps they take.
After all, is it not little drops of water that make a mighty ocean, like the saying goes? And does the journey of a thousand miles not begin with a (small) step, like another saying puts it?
Just take a look at SPARK (Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness), a values-based initiative that raises consciousness promoting kindness to one another in society, which the bank started during the inaugural Sustainability Week in 2017.
Aimed at reinforcing FirstBank’s corporate culture of encouraging giving and volunteering among its staff and the larger society, its magnitude today and the many kind initiatives it has sparked off across the country could not have been imagined when the seed was planted five years ago. Incalculable manhours and financial resources from FirstBank staff and partners have been contributed willingly.
Children in orphanages, internally displaced persons (IDPs) in various IDP camps, widows and other underprivileged or vulnerable groups have been visited and their challenges alleviated if not totally eliminated. Scores of career counselling sessions with secondary school pupils across Nigeria has also been organised as part of the Sustainability Week, which has been the first of its kind in Nigeria’s financial services industry.
In 2019, the third edition of the Sustainability Week with the theme: “Ripples of Kindness: Putting You First” enunciated the values (or pillars) of the SPARK initiative to include Compassion, Civility and Charity. FirstBank believes that these values and the acts of kindness that flow as a result of embracing the values are critical to promoting and building peaceful co-existence and prosperity in society.
Among the key highlights of the 2019 Sustainability Week was a “Nice Comments Day” that was a day set aside to foster words of encouragement, support and kindness to people around one, regardless of ones’ familiarity or close ties, in recognition of the instrumental role kind words play in lighting up people’s day and bringing out the best in them.
Another highlight was the SPARK School Engagement that promoted the SPARK initiative in schools, with the objective of embedding the values of SPARK amongst school children at a young age so the values become part of, and habitual to, them as they develop into adulthood.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic and government-imposed lockdown, the year 2020 witnessed no edition of the Sustainability Week. Any attempt to stage the kinds of activities and events that usually accompany the Sustainability Week would have been counterproductive, spreading infections and possibly deaths instead of kindness and joy that the Sustainability Week has become synonymous with.
However, FirstBank’s avowed commitment to corporate responsibility and sustainability would not allow it fold its hands and just watch while COVID-19 and its debilitating effects tried to make living and learning difficult for most Nigerians.
Working virtually or remotely and, where it could not do otherwise, physically but in strict adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols, FirstBank executed several initiatives meant to ameliorate the very difficult situation in Nigeria then.
The bank contributed to efforts to provide palliatives to vulnerable Nigerians, announced a moratorium on repayment of loans, set up a special loan fund for businesses run by women, established another for school proprietors in collaboration with a state government and drove an e-learning initiative that sought to move one million school children to a safe online learning platform so their educational progress would not be set back due to COVID-19 restrictions, government-ordered lockdown and the closure of educational institutions for the greater part of 2020
“Kindness: A Way of Life” was the theme for the fourth edition of the Sustainability Week held in 2021. Highlights of activities of the 2021 Sustainability Week, designed to entrench a culture of kindness, included a practical-oriented training webinar for staff to embed a culture of kindness in the bank by driving understanding of how kindness (or the lack of it) can impact the workplace, the marketplace and the communities in which staff live and work.
Another important feature of the Sustainability Week was the “Kind Comments Days” that ran all week to inspire a consciousness of kind choice of words and consideration for others. There was also a dedicated programme in secondary schools designed to institutionalise SPARK by using school SPARK champions (including students and teachers) alongside other partners such as Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) and Lagos State government to inculcate the SPARK values in school children.
One other feature was the ground-breaking ceremony for the Lagos State government’s OCAAT (One Community At A Time) initiative to provide the Primary Health Care Centre at Ijedodo community in Alimosho LGA. Set up as an initiative to improve the health and welfare of the members of various communities in Lagos State, FirstBank partnered the government on the project as part of its contribution to global efforts to meet some specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
There were also webinars: a general webinar with the sub-theme: “Education: Does Kindness have a Role?”; and a millennial webinar with the sub-theme: “Making the Cyber World a Kinder Place” which sought to proffer solution to the question of how people could become kinder on social media platforms.
All the past editions of FirstBank Sustainability Week highlight the longstanding and relentless commitment of FirstBank not only to continue to live but also to preach the message of corporate responsibility and sustainability.
Given its unmatched pedigree in corporate responsibility and sustainability, FirstBank has earned the right to address all other corporate organisations as well as individuals and groups on matters of sustainability. The bank has earned its right to the people’s audience.
It is against this backdrop that FirstBank’s forthcoming 2022 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Week should be welcomed by other banks and corporate citizens, irrespective of industry, as an opportunity to come together and take lessons from Nigeria’s foremost corporate citizen with regard to corporate responsibility and sustainability.
FirstBank does not consider itself too big to take lessons from other corporate citizens in areas where they have distinguished themselves. So other corporate citizens should not feel too big to take lessons from FirstBank in this area where the bank stands highly distinguished.
Or can anyone claim not to know that if the concept of corporate responsibility and sustainability were to be represented by one corporate citizen per country on a world map where countries are denoted by their foremost corporate entities, it is unarguable that FirstBank would be the company eminently representing Nigeria on that map?
FIRSTBANK HOSTS THE FINANCIAL MARKET DEALERS ASSOCIATION (FMDA) QUARTERLY MEETING
FirstBank of Nigeria Limited has announced that it will host the Financial Markets Dealers Association’s (FMDA) quarterly meeting scheduled for 5pm on Friday, 16 September 2022, at Federal Palace Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos. The event themed “Nigeria Macroeconomic Developments and Outlook: IMF View” will have itskeynote address delivered by Ari Aisen, IMF Resident Representative for Nigeria.
In a statement issued by the Acting Executive Secretary, Mrs. Mary Gbegbaje, “The FMDA quarterly meeting serves as a platform for in-depth knowledge sharing, dissemination of information and fostering of business relationships of members in treasury market practice which consists of Treasurers, Analysts and other market players from insurance, pension funds, government and regulatory bodies in Nigeria. Participants at the event include delegates from all banks and invited guest and customers.”
According to Ini Ebong, Executive Director, Treasury, Financial Institutions & International Banking, First Bank of Nigeria Limited “at FirstBank, we are delighted to host the 2022 quarterly meeting of the Financial Markets Dealers Association of Nigeria (FMDA), a platform we consider pivotal to the continued growth of the financial market in the country. We are excited with the successes so far achieved by our noble Association – FMDA – as with the right regulatory and risk management framework, we have beenable to impact and promote fairness in the activities of members, whilst providing the enabling environment to promote business performance and positively impact the national economy”.
With the knowledge and insights shared in the course of the quarterly meeting, we would further deepen our resolve towards the unrelenting role we play in the economy”, he concluded.
FMDA is the principal interface with the monetary authorities through policy advocacy and engagement aimed at promoting sound markets and ethical conducts comparable to international standards that facilitate liquidity, transparency and price discovery and engendering market deepening.
