Yemisi Izuora
FirstBank of Nigeria Limited has announced a partnership with VisionSpring, a not-for-profit global organisation based in the United States of America to provide free eye screening and glasses to 10,000 low-income earners across the country in the next two years.
The pilot scheme, which was funded by the bank and begins this year, is to cover 2,000 people across the six-geo-political zones of the country and scaled up to 10,000 in 2019.
In his remarks at the launch of the partnership with VisionSpring, in Abuja, the bank’s Executive Director, Public Sector, Mr. Abdullahi Ibrahim, said the launch was one of the activities of First Bank’s 2018 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (CR&S) week.
According to him, the CR&S week with the proposed theme ‘Touching Lives: You First’ reflects the bank’s brand promise to always put stakeholders first and “is designed to offer employees and other stakeholders opportunities to give their time and resources to defined causes.
“Our goal is to empower 10,000 people in two years by providing screening and discounted eye glasses. We are beginning with 2000 people and will scale-up subsequently,” he said.
The partnership with VisionSpring, he added, is designed to advance social impact by providing vision screening and affordable eye glasses for low income earners.
“We believe that a committed, well-funded and well-implemented partnership with VisionSpring (a pioneering, global social enterprise providing access to affordable eyewear) will enhance our goals as responsible a corporate citizen focusing on promoting quality education; good health and welfare for its stakeholders.
“The partnership is also in line with the bank’s financial inclusion and financial literacy approach which promotes accessible and affordable financial products and services to disadvantaged groups including the visually impaired with the goal of bringing these marginalised populations into the mainstream economy, improving their chances for resilient livelihoods and financial stability,” he stated.