Union Bank of Nigeria Plc is taking steps to provide potable water to Nigerians across the six geo-political zones of the country.
The bank is taking on the social service role in the effort of its management to deepen its corporate social responsibility programmes to the nation.
Disclosing the bank’s resolve at a virtual media briefing Friday, Mrs. Ogochukwu Ekezie-Ekaidem, Head, Corporate communications and Marketing of the bank, said people constituted the pillar of Union Bank’s brand building strategy.
The support of Nigerians was therefore a major part of the bank’s operations.
The plan, she said, is to pull resources together from both the bank and free giving by its employees to give to Nigerians the gift of portable water across the nation. The service is to be delivered a non-governmental organisation, she said.
Ekezie-Ekaidem explained that this year has been set aside as employee volunteer year in which all employees will give back to society and engage in some kind of community initiative.
She recalled that “last year, across the country over 1,500 of us with our families and friends came out. This year, obviously we cannot physically gather because of the pandemic”.
According to Ekezie-Ekaidem, the bank is investing in portable water because water has become one of the major elements for fighting COVID-19 pandemic and other infections through washing of hands and keeping a hygienic and sanitary environment.
She is looking forward to the third edition of Union Bank’s annual education fair – ‘Edu360’, which she said is being exploring to hold virtually this year.
She promised the bank would continue to engage customers and members of the public through all the available social media channels despite the pandemic.
She said the bank has robust electronic channels – Union Mobile, which she said is safe and convenient. She encouraged customers to avail themselves of these services for banking transactions.
Union Bank of Nigeria closed last year’s operations with an increased operating momentum that delivered a 14.4 percent growth in revenue to N166.5 billion at the end of the year.
This is an upturn from a drop of 11 percent in the prior financial year. Also, after tax profit grew by 10 percent to about N20 billion at the end of the year.
The upturn has enabled the bank to resume dividend payment at 25 kobo per share for the 2019 operations.
