Yemisi Izuora
Access Bank Plc through its Project LEAD, a new corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative plans to empower 30,000 secondary school students across six geo-political zones in Nigeria.
The Personal Banking Division of Access Bank would be executing the project, which represents Leadership, Enterprise and Academic Development (LEAD). It is targeted at driving improvement in secondary school students in areas such as academic and moral excellence; financial literacy; reading culture; and personal leadership.
The project which is for a three-year period, would see the first phase targeting at least 10,000 students more than 30,000 secondary school students, over a three-year period, who would have been impacted positively and positioned for excellence in their academics, leadership skills and financial literacy.
Speaking during the launch of the project in Lagos at the weekend, the chief executive of Access Bank Plc, Mr. Herbert Wigwe said the bank recognises the importance of the society, saying it forms the bed rock of activities of both the organisation and as individuals.
“This is very evident in our corporate philosophy and fully expressed in our passion for customers as a core value. We have taken this passion beyond the walls of the banking hall, expressed it with our deepening roots in sustainability and it is not surprising the amount of accolades we receive for our efforts at CSR and sustainability.
“Here today, we witness another giant stride by the humans of access (as we like to call ourselves) to leave an indelible impact on the lives of the future of our customer
base, our bank and this great nation.
“The LEAD Project by the Personal Banking Division of Access Bank has chosen to foster development in areas of academic and moral excellence, financial literacy, reading culture and personal leadership amongst secondary school students across the nation,” he explained.
Also, the Executive Director, Personal Bank, Mr. Victor Etuokwu, said Access Bank had gone a step further to have projects by the various groups and sub-units within the bank. “By doing this, we have created an avenue where every individual is involved in a project and can be proud of its success and its resulting impact on both the society and the organisation as a whole.
“Given the dearth of mentoring and guidance amongst the youth today, we are keen on impacting the younger generation because we believe every young person deserves an opportunity to excel. To enable us to achieve this, we have carefully selected Project Revamp Africa as our technical partners. Project Revamp Africa is an initiative poised to revive educational values, maximise potentials and develop young leaders,” he added.