Victor Uzoho and Stanley Simon
To mark its 2021 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) Week, dedicated to promoting sustainable economic, social and environmental growth and development across the country, First Bank of Nigeria Limited has commenced the construction of a Primary Health Centre in the Ijedodo community in the Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State.
According to the Bank, the CR&S Week is an annual event it embarks upon as part of its corporate responsibility to encourage other citizens to undertake community development projects under the SPARK (Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness) initiative beginning from its immediate environment and spreading across the nation.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony on Tuesday, the FirstBank’s CEO, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, said the project is aimed at improving the standard of living of residents of the Ijedodo community.
According to him, the bank’s theme for this year’s activities, “Kindness…A Way of Life,” is designed to cut across its CR&S strategic pillars, including Education, Health and Welfare, Financial Inclusion, and Responsible Lending & and Procurement.
He said: “At FirstBank, we continue to advance the course of quality education, health, and welfare of underserved communities in Lagos and other parts of the country.
“To mark the 2021 CR&S week, FirstBank is supporting the Lagos State Government on its ‘One Community at a Time (OCAAT)’ initiative with the construction of a Primary Health Care Centre to improve the standard of living of residents of Ijedodo, Ojo Local Government Area (LGA), in Lagos.
“The OCAAT initiative is an integrated, inter-sectoral, and community-based programme that will achieve sustainable improvements in the lives of people across Lagos State. UNICEF has committed to fine-tuning the OCAAT initiative approach, championing the community engagement, training core team members, and developing a robust monitoring and evaluation system to ensure sustainability.”
He noted that the key targets of the initiative are underserved communities with little or no access to fundamental basic amenities such as sanitation, basic healthcare, and education, stating that partners of the initiative are required to provide wholesome end-to-end solutions to one or more communities in any of the four focus areas – Sanitation, Healthcare, Education, and Recreation.
“FirstBank’s support for the construction of this health facility is borne out of the passion to see all communities have access to quality and affordable healthcare services. As the saying goes, ‘Health is Wealth’ and we are committed to ensuring a healthy and wealthy society.
“In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the biggest challenges faced by the populace is poor access to healthcare facilities. At FirstBank, we have consistently demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the health and welfare of communities in Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole.
“The Bank is also committed to ensuring every citizen has an equal opportunity to quality standards of living and we continuously seek every opportunity to bridge the gap between the underserved communities and metropolitan areas within the State,” he added.
Meanwhile, he noted that the construction of the Primary Health Centre will bring quality and affordable healthcare services closer to the people of Ijedodo, especially children and women.
Also, he encouraged every member of the community to take advantage of the bank’s wide array of our products and services including the Firstmonie wallet and USSD banking which are carefully tailored towards meeting the needs of unbanked and underbanked citizens.
In his remarks, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by his Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said to fight diseases like COVID-19 in the long-term, the state needed to build strong primary healthcare infrastructure just like the OCAAT initiative.
“With the OCAAT Initiative, we are building and strengthening the Lagos State infrastructure starting particularly at the grass-root level, where our mothers and fathers need immediate help to treat malaria, control pregnancies, give birth to healthy children, and look after members of the community with hypertension and diabetes.
“It is at centres like this that Mr. Governor is very particular that we strengthen health care structures. You are going to stop seeing us building inferior infrastructure, you are going to stop seeing us using existing buildings that were not built for medical purposes.
“What we are going to be doing from now on is designing secondary general hospitals and specialist facilities from within the ministry of health and ministry of works specially designed for the purpose they are meant to carry out.”
On her part, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mrs Folashade Jaji, expressed gratitude to Board and Management of FirstBank for their partnership with the State, saying the Health Centre marked the beginning of the journey to provide quality and accessible health care service to all residents of Ijedodo under the Government’s One Community at a Time Initiative (OCAAT).
The traditional ruler of Iba kingdom, ONIBA Oba Dr.Suleman Adeshinawaju Okikiola Olufemiloye, commended the partnership between the FirstBank and Lagos State Government for their development efforts in IBA LCDA, and thanked both for their kind gestures.