Sterling Bank Cleans Up Nigeria

By Tosin Olatokunbo

Sterling Bank Plc has carried out environmental cleaning exercises in 23 states across Nigeria as part of its commitment to create a cleaner and safer environment for the citizenry and aquatic life under its Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR initiative known as Sterling Bank Environmental Makeover, STEM.

The clean up exercises involved cleaning of markets, roads and beaches to commemorate the World Recycling Day, which held recently in every country in the world.

The exercises were simultaneously held in Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Ondo, Ekiti, Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna, Abuja, Delta, Anambra, Edo, Abia, Imo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa-Ibom, Gombe, Bauchi, Plateau, Katsina and Lagos.

More than 1,000 participated in the clean-up exercises; including staff of Sterling Bank and volunteers. In Lagos, it was executed in partnership with the Oniru Kingdom, Rite Foods, First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company, Bonnie Bio, Sterling One Foundation, Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, African Clean Up Initiative and Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, LASEPA.

Speaking at the beach cleaning exercise at Oniru Beach, Lagos, Abubakar Suleiman, Managing Director and CEO of Sterling Bank, said the bank embarked on cleaning exercises in 21 states out of the 24 states it is partnering with across the country.

The CEO who was represented by Tunde Adeola, Executive Director of Commercial and Institutional Banking at Sterling Bank remarked that, “We have been on this journey for more than 10 years. Every time, this happens, we have a cleaner and healthier environment.”

He said, “Sterling Bank is well positioned to do this,” adding that in the last two years, the bank has received recognition and awards for the initiative. According to him, Sterling Bank is also in the forefront of tourism in Lagos State.

Also speaking, Mojisola Bakare, General Manager, Corporate and Investment Banking with Sterling Bank said, “Sterling Bank is about impactful banking”, noting they believe that there is no way they will live on this earth without impacting on the environment, adding that for that reason, they have what is called the HEART of Sterling because they have strategically decided that they are going to impact specific areas of growth in the economy.

She said the HEART of Sterling stands for Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Transportation, adding that the head office in Marina, Lagos is being fitted with solar panels and soon it will be sustainably powered by the sun.

“It is very important that we take responsibility for our actions on the environment and preserve its beauty to boost the local economy and attract foreign tourists, and by extension, foreign exchange into the country,” Bakare said.

Commissioner for Ministry of Tourism in Lagos State, Mrs. Uzamat Yussuf said, “We are aware that Lagos is a place of aquatic splendour.” She said, “If we have water that is not well protected and sustained, it is better we don’t have any of it at all and that is why it is important for us to sensitise the citizens of Lagos on the proper way to dispose wastes properly.

“When we do not dispose wastes properly, it becomes an issue for ourselves and the state at large because when the rain starts and all our drainages are blocked, then we continue to experience flooding. In developed countries, they sell their beaches to tourists and make huge money as well as increase level of employment for their people.”

Abia State Commissioner of Transport, Mr. Godswill Uwanoruo, commended the management and staff of Sterling Bank for the cleaning exercise which started in the state since 2015.