FirstBank, Nigeria’s leading financial inclusion services provider, has unveiled enhanced palliative measures to help its customers and Nigerians through this period of the extended COVID 19 lockdown in some states.
The bank said that amongst these measures are; the introduction of special waivers on repayment fees on the Bank’s credit cards as well as up to 90-days moratorium on SME loans.
The aim of these is to cushion the impact of the toll on employment and livelihoods.
Recall that it was announced in the week that the Lagos State Government & Roducate e-learning initiative sponsored by FirstBank had kicked off.
The initiative includes the government accredited curriculum for primary, secondary and tertiary schools designed to ensure children are adequately guided and engaged through their learning experience.
The bank had announced upon the lockdown in March that it was to move One Million children to e-learning which is implemented with some renowned organisations that have come on board from within and outside the continent.
These partners include IBM, which is providing opportunities for the acquisition of digital skills including Coding, Artificial Intelligence and Data Science & Analytics which would promote opportunities to learn skills of the future.
These measures are taken in identifying with the roles of children at securing the future of any country.
Reflecting on the words by Benjamin Franklin that “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest,” Dr Adesola Adeduntan, CEO, FirstBank said “in keeping with who we are at FirstBank, our commitment to self-development and continuous improvement is never far from our thinking.
“As such, we are encouraging all to consider and register for any of the excellent programmes being offered free by Ivy League schools and have curated a list of them covering topics such as management, personal development, and entrepreneurship which can be found on our website.”
Dr Adeduntan further stated that “with these measures, we are delighted to support our customers because you all have empowered us to do so by choosing to Bank with us. This is indeed a time to double down efforts and explore opportunities to ease the impact of the extension on you.
“Once again, we appreciate our customers for the giant strides achieved on our alternative channels, as we assure you of our commitment to continue to work tirelessly to provide essential banking services across these channels.
“The transaction volume is a positive testimony to the resilience of our staff and your Bank to keep things going as COVID 19 will neither defeat nor slow us down. We remain fully persuaded that together we will overcome this too.”
“Our experience over 126 years tells us the solutions lie within us, more than ever as we uphold our promise to you to be here for you and put You First always,” he concluded.
First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) is the premier Bank in West Africa and the leading financial inclusion services provider in Nigeria for over 125 years.
With over 750 business locations and 44,000 Banking Agents spread across 99% of the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria, FirstBank provides a comprehensive range of retail and corporate financial services to serve its over 15 million customers.
The Bank has international presence through its subsidiaries, FBN Bank (UK) Limited in London and Paris, FBNBank in the Republic of Congo, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Senegal, as well as a Representative Office in Beijing.
The Bank has been nimble at promoting digital payment in the country and has issued over 10million cards, the first bank to achieve such a milestone in the country.
FirstBank’s cashless transaction drive extends to having more than 8.5million people on its USSD banking service through the nationally renowned *894# banking service and over 3 million people on Firstmobile platform.
