Last week in Lagos, Polaris Bank and Evolve Charity donated more than 200 school supplies to Gbaja Junior and Senior Secondary Schools in SURULERE. L-R: Divisional Head, SURULERE Business, Dr. Bimbo Akorede; Principal, Gbaja Junior Girls School, Mrs. Takakalitu Dahiru; ED, Corporate & Investment Banking, Polaris Bank, Mrs. Abimbola Ozomah; ED PaceGate Limited, Raj Totlani, Group Head, Customer Experience & Value Management; Bukola Oluyadi & GM, Evolve Charity Trust, Mr. Godwin Ejeh In keeping with their presentation of the school essentials program to a select group of public school kids nationwide, Polaris Bank and Evolve Trust Charity, one of its key CSR partners, stormed Gbaja Girls (Junior and Senior) High School, Surulere, Lagos, on Wednesday.
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Over 15,000 students from 35 public schools in nine states, including Lagos, Kano, Kogi, Imo, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have benefited from the alliance, which was established in 2021 and is largely focused on empowering girls and their male counterparts. Along with creating and providing user-sized school necessities (bags, uniforms, sandals, books, and pens), the program also aims to empower young students with emotional intelligence education and brain training techniques.
The program also includes teacher training at the individual schools, which is completely Bank-sponsored. As a signatory to the United Nations’ (UN) Principles for Responsible Banking, the Bank aligns its practices and strategies with the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN and the Paris Climate Agreement, igniting its sustained interest in girl child training, stressed Mrs. Abimbola Ozomah, Executive Director, Corporate and Investment Banking, during the presentation on Wednesday.
Six million of Nigeria’s 10.5 million out-of-school children are females, according to data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Since educated girls develop into knowledgeable women, this event aims to empower girls for greater roles in addition to dispensing educational resources. Our goals at Polaris Bank are to empower girls, close the educational gap, and create sustainability that is in line with the global framework,” she stated.
The Executive Director added that the Bank will do everything in its power to assist the students and urged them to take advantage of the opportunities that come with education. “The most effective instrument you have at your disposal is education, therefore you must make the most of it. Polaris Bank will not back down from its admirable goal of empowering girls to lead the necessary change to improve our nation and the planet.
We encourage you all to take full advantage of this initiative, which is consistent with the Bank’s continuous sustainability efforts to decrease the number of out-of-school children and increase access to high-quality education, particularly for girls,” Ozoma said. Ejeh Godwin, the programme manager at the Evolve Charity Trust, also spoke and thanked Polaris Bank for supporting the Trust’s goal of helping girls all around the country.
Although the project started in 2020, Godwin pointed out that Polaris Bank joined in 2021 and has never once backed out since. “I would especially want to thank Polaris Bank for their outstanding support since the cooperation began in 2021.
Without their help, we couldn’t have accomplished this on our own or progressed this far. Thanks to Polaris Bank, we’ve broadened our reach and intend to add even more schools from other states this year,” Ejeh stated. In her remarks, Mrs. Dabiri Nwabuoku Adetoun Iyabo, the principal of Gbaja Girls Junior High School, also expressed gratitude to Polaris Bank for involving the school in the intervention program.
“On behalf of the staff and children, I would especially want to thank Polaris Bank for deeming us deserving of the benefits of this great program. You can sense that both the staff and the pupils are content in the hallway. We are really thrilled about this, and it has raised our spirits,” the principal exclaimed.
Bankole Oreofeoluwa Emmanuella, an assistant senior girl at the school and one of the beneficiaries, also expressed gratitude to the Bank for the symbolic gesture and pledged to utilise the things responsibly. “My friends and I appreciate Polaris Bank’s initiative, and we can
