Lagos State Government has commended Heritage Bank Plc on its financial literacy initiative aimed at driving financial inclusion of young persons in the country.
Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Oluranti Adebule, noted that the launch of a comic book, ‘The Protectors’ by Heritage Bank last May, which the Managing Director, Ifie Sekibo, had designated as ‘Children’s Banking Month 2016’ to drive financial inclusion among children, spoke volume about the financial institution.
In a letter of appreciation to Sekibo, the Deputy Governor said, “Your policy of equipping young people with the requisite financial skills to drive a vibrant economy as exemplified by the extension of financial literacy framework to primary and secondary schools pupils/students, university undergraduates, NYSC members in the past are very commendable.”
She declared, “You are surely on the right track and we urge you to remain steadfast in the pursuance of this laudable goal.”
Heritage Bank, in a statement from its Corporate Communications Department, listed other components of the financial literacy and youth empowerment initiatives and collaboration as including the N3billion Central Bank of Nigeria Youth Innovative Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YIEDP) in which it is now the sole partner-bank with the CBN and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with about 1500 NYSC and post-NYSC youth as beneficiaries in the first phase; the launch of a N500 million Young Entrepreneurs and Students (YES) Grant in Lagos in partnership with the Nigerian Youth Professional Forum (NYPF) and the Young Entrepreneurship Business Training Programme (YEBTP) in which the bank collaborated with the Centre for Values in Leadership to empower young entrepreneurs and deepening financial inclusion in a 6-month programme that involved grooming, mentoring and financing about 100 aspiring and start-up entrepreneurs in the Ajegunle Community, Lagos State.
Aduragbemi Omiyale 
Adedapo Adesanya