Ime Akpan
Fidelity Bank has extended beyond profit-driven motives by investing in programmes aimed to bring quality healthcare services to underserved and remote communities.
The bank demonstrated this recently by distributing postnatal recovery kits of all the essentials to over 50 pregnant women in Ajeromi Ifelodun local government area of Lagos State to significantly improve the overall health of nursing mothers.
At the presentation ceremony held at the Akere Primary Health Care Centre, the chief human resources manager of the bank, Mr Charles Nwachukwu said giving back to the society is both a culture and a tradition of the financial institution.
“CSR is one of the strongest pillars of Fidelity Bank; supporting the less-privileged ones and supporting the communities where we transact business from.”
In an interview with NewsGazette later, Nwachukwu stated that CSR is a global mandate ”for us as staff of the bank and the bank itself to pool our resources together every year to uplift the people and the communities where we operate from.”
He added: ‘We deliver different projects we have in mind to the people and the communities. We do it every year: every staff of the bank is encouraged to get involved.”
On healthcare-focused CSR initiative, Nwachukwu said: ‘’We know that pregnancy is a very sensitive process. We have situations where some mothers are not able to make it at the delivery point because of lack of facilitate. The kits are meant to help them when they are ready for delivery so that there won’t be any lack or challenge that would threaten anybody’s life.
”We believe that the lives of the mothers and the children are very important. So what we have done today is to support the mothers to pass through that sensitive situation and deliver their babies safely.”
He added: ”We feel happy and are satisfied that we give support to pregnant women. I feel happy that my colleagues also made the sacrifice to support the initiative. There are still more we can do with our limited resources to give comfort to people at a time like this.”
Further, he said Fidelity Bank CSR is a continuum and by next year the requests made by the authorities of the health facility will be prioritised.
”They asked for infrastructural support. We will look at their demand and offer assistance accordingly,” he said.
Besides, he said the urgency and importance of the need determine the type of programme the bank undertakes every year.
Nwachukwu explained that the needs of any community or group are brought to the attention of the bank through ”our colleagues who live in those areas.
”We also have consultants that we tell to help us scan the communities; they give us the list of things we can pick from. We have multiple sources for checking what is required and we prioritised which one will be taken before the other.”
Earlier in her remarks, the medical officer of health in Ajeromi Ifelodun, Dr Amina Ahmed expressed her appreciation to the bank for coming to the aid of the pregnant mothers.
She urged the bank to rehabilitate some of the dilapidated infrastructure in the health centre.
Similarly, the vice chairman of the council, Mr Lucky Uduikhue thanked the financial institution for assisting the women.
He promised that the council would always collaborate with the bank to make life worth living for the residents.
In separate interviews, the beneficiaries also thanked the bank for closing the post-natal gaps.
”I am so happy; I really appreciate Fidelity Bank for the gifts. I didn’t expect it. The bank has shown us love and kindness. I was thinking how I will get the money to buy the items. Fidelity has taken the burden off my shoulder,” Mrs Ijeoma Osakwe said.
Another expectant mother, Mrs Blessing Obi remarked: ”I am happy for the gift. I was worried about getting the items. Thanks to Fidelity Bank for solving that problem.”
Another woman, Mrs Aishat Jamiu said: ”I feel happy. I appreciate what the bank has done.”
