| Nigerian banks and social responsibility
initiatives
By AMECHI OGBONNA
Thursday, December 6, 2007
 |
Francis
Atuche
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
|
One of the key indicators to determine the true worth and
value of modern organisations is their ability to give back
to the society part of their profit through some mutually
beneficial social responsibility initiatives.
In fact, some of the crises witnessed by Nigerians, particularly
in the Niger Delta region have crystallized as a result of
the failure of the oil prospecting multinational companies
to invest in the lives of the citizens of the community.
As a nation, Nigeria has lost valuable manpower, in addition
to huge amount of resources, which ordinarily could have been
utilized for enhancement of lives.
For many years, the concept of corporate social responsibility
remained alien to the Nigerian banking industry, as the overriding
emphasis was profit and nothing else.
As at the time in question, banks’ management never
bordered about the customer or the environment within which
business is being done, and that created a lot of problems
for the various institutions.
That was largely because the customer had little or no option,
as the number of banks then was relatively small. Moreover,
the literacy level and consciousness of the bank customers
was quite low and so many things were taken for granted.
Indeed times have changed a great deal and awareness about
banks corporate social responsibility has continued to grow
steadily ever since.
It is no longer an issue to be toyed with in the policy making
processes in the banks, as policies, products and services
can only be introduced after evaluation and consideration
of the responses, from the society and business environment.
There have always been fears that without such considerations,
organisations are bound to record product or service failure.
Today, corporate social responsibility profile of banks is
being used as marketing tool in a competitive industry.
It was in that light that Social Enterprise Report and Awards
(SERA) handed down two awards to Bank PHB Plc, at an event
held at the MUSON Centre, Lagos..
The bank was first recognised as the best in Corporate Social
Responsibility following its impressive paradigm-shift, and
consistent implementation of innovative and sustainable people-focused
CSR programmes. The second award which was given to Mr. Francis
Atuche, Managing Director and Chief executive of the bank,
its leadership role in corporate social responsibility initiatives
including investment in individuals and communities in Nigeria.
Indeed, while the banks continued the rat race to the biggest
profit, the real sector especially the manufacturers kept
recording dwindling capacity utilization and productivity.
Those who struggled to give something back were largely confined
to tokenisms in charity and philanthropy.
The coming of BankPHB in the banking scene, was intended to
break more barriers in the corporate social responsilty practices.
The bank said it intends to make the kind of impact that would
affect society in a way that no other corporate organization
had done before.
The Fulbright Scholarship is the US government’s most
prestigious scholarship, and past awardees in its 50-year
history have included distinguished global icons like Chinua
Achebe, Maya Angelou, Boutros Boutros Ghali, Javier Solano,
Fernando Cardoso, Ingvar Carlsson, and Bill Clinton.
It was in recognition of BankPHB’s commitment to capacity
building as well as extending the frontiers of education,
and leadership, the US Embassy selected the Bank as its first
Nigerian corporate partner to help sponsor its scholarship
programme. It was in this capacity that Dr. Abubakar Momoh,
a Senior Lecturer at the Lagos State University, was commissioned
to do a research at the UCLA under the aegis of the Fulbright-Bank
PHB Scholarship Programme.
This is one way that the bank has continued to make very strong
statement about its position on the Nigerian banking sector.
Similarly, the bank’s managing director, Francis Atuche
was recently at UNGC headquarters in Geneva Switzerland to
sign up a global coalition agreement with the world’s
largest voluntary partnership committed to corporate citizenship..
Atuche used the unique opportunity to contribute to global
debates, and share ideas with the international community
on Corporate Social Responsibility.
Bank PHB Intern Academy has since March 2007 been adopted
as a major platform for streghtening the bank’s brand
following the banking consolidation programme.
In doing this, BankPHB has focused a lot on the developmental
aspirations of young people. The Intern was another initiative
in the bank’s pyramid of efforts aimed at gromming the
next generation of managers in corporate Nigeria.
For instance an independent research survey carried out by,
Research International, underlined the show’s uniqueness
with about 95 per cent of respondents agreeing that it was
a very educative programme.
In response to its determination to International Young Creative
Entrepreneurs, (IYCE, 2007)
Bank PHB became a partner to the British Council’s IYCE,
an initiative that identifies and rewards talented young people
between the ages of 25 to 35, and creative entrepreneurs working
across a vast spectrum of the creative world. This initiative
enables the empowerment of young Nigerians to achieve their
creative entrepreneurial dreams by providing them with much
needed and often critical financial support.
As the national elections drew near in 2007, Bank PHB again
dug in to play its part in ensuring that the elections would
not be marred by violence. Having regard to the fact that
it couldn’t probably go round the millions that make
up the electorate, it concentrated its effort on the reportage,
a critical area because actions and reactions are generally
generated based on information received from the mass media.
Bank PHB, in conjunction with the United States Information
Service and Ruyi Communications, organized a massive voter
enlightenment programme which equipped the Nigerian Media
with adequate skills and experience required to facilitate
effective professional reportage of the 2007 elections.
Bank PHB became the first African company to sponsor this
event that had in attendance global luminaries like Colin
Powell, Michael Porter and Rudy Giuliani. Why did the Bank
bother? Because the Forum is the ultimate venue for the challenging
of conventional thinking, where leading icons congregate to
proffer solutions to the world’s most challenging issues.
With the BankPHB sponsorship, Africa became, not just a topic
on the agenda, as it perennially is, especially the hunger
and deprivation topics; BankPHB brought Africa to the fore
as an enabler, a facilitator, the kind of role that Africa
should increasingly be taking on. It must be said again that
since then other African institutions have begun to follow
suit.
The Bank PHB National Scholars programme began in 2004, this
flagship educational CSR initiative has made tremendous difference
in the lives of numerous young Nigerian secondary school students.
This is against the backdrop of the Bank’s consideration
of the Nigerian youth as pivotal to change in the society.
The Scheme was therefore developed to provide access to education
and mind development to students.
Operationally, the Bank encourages schools to forward the
names of brilliant indigent students. After assessment, the
students are then given scholarships that cover levies, exam
fees, books, uniforms, sandals and school bags, in addition
to monthly stipends. Today, some of those pioneer students
are also enjoying scholarships at university level.
The scheme also builds and stocks libraries with relevant
books and to date is operational in Kaduna, Abuja, Bauchi,
Kano, Katsina, Enugu, and Delta States.
This was well before the days of LASTMA. Traffic situation
was chaotic and commuters were spending endless hours on the
roads. The Rotary Club of Victoria Island had come up with
the idea of teaming up with a corporate organisation that
would help provide the muscle and logistics to break the gridlock.
A lot of companies turned them down until they got to BankPHB.
It was Platinum Bank at the time. It was a whole lot of work
and it took a load of human and material resources to achieve.
For example, there were numerous meetings to plan and execute,
permits to obtain, documentations with various partners including
the Rotary Club, consultants, and government authorities.
Thereafter, the Bank had to assemble the traffic wardens,
provide uniforms, monthly upkeep, erect road signs, etc. It
was in short a Herculean task. But the upside was that the
traffic eased up considerably and the bank was bombarded with
notes, e-mails and calls of appreciation from all quarters.
This initiative came at a time when there was a lot of uncertainty
about the new millennium. What will happen as the world approaches
the turn of the millennium? Will computers crash? Will the
world…? Those were some of the concerns that consumed
the world as the 20th century drew to an end.
At BankPHB, it was a different scenario: who were the change
agents of the century, where are the leading beacons into
the fast-approaching new century, what values and ideas will
take us, as a people to the so earnestly yearned-for pride
of place we always knew we could occupy? Enter the Millennium
Models.
Beyond global uncertainty, however, was also a perceived lack
of direction amongst the youth of Nigeria. There was a gnawing
feeling that our young people were drifting without a sound
set of values or role models to look up to. The Millennium
Models was to showcase trailblazing Nigerians both at home
and in the Diaspora who were doing Nigeria proud, people our
youth could model and pattern their lives after.
Running in the national dailies on a weekly basis, it was
such a hit with readers nationwide that the scope of the programme
had to be severally reviewed and enlarged. Since then, it
has spawned a lot of me-too ideas.
Its unwavering steadfastness and commitment to the well being
of its various stakeholders therefore gave Bank PHB that coveted
niche that others are trying hard to break into. One reason
this is so is the bank’s total immersion in the culture
of corporate social responsibility, CSR.
Acoording to Francis Atuche, the bank’s managing director.
‘Our passionate pioneering emphasis on corporate social
responsibility is on one hand, a natural derivative of our
values, mission and vision in managing our core business to
global corporate governance standards. On the other hand,
it is a deliberate commitment to higher ideals beyond the
profit bottom line and hinged on adding value to our social
life in order to provide sustainable positive impact for the
society in which our operations are based’.
In doing this however, the bank has demonstrated committment
to quality communication that can only be described as world
class PHB.
For the future, the bank’s giant strides in CSR have
not gone unnoticed but has been well rewarded. Nigerians believe
it has made laudable and far-reaching contributions in the
sphere of CSR, having emerged as a role model for other banks
and corporate organizations desiring to make a mark beyond
the bottom-line.
The bank has found is that out people empowerment efforts
do actually help boost the bottomline, maybe not in a cause
and effect basis, but there is evidence to suggest that this
initiative coupled with brilliant advertising has won it more
customers and fans than it otherwise would have had, without
this win-win strategy. The opportunities are enormous, the
value immeasurable for those who see the future. It is about
ideas. |
