By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A foremost underwriting firm, AXA Mansard Insurance Plc, has been praised by the Lagos State government over its continued climate change awareness.
In commemoration of its annual AXA Week for Good, the flagship programme of AXA Hearts in Action (AHIA), AXA Mansard employees, under the Trash-To-Treasure Initiative, collected waste from their homes, offices, and environment and converted it into funds.
The company, under this scheme, will donate proceeds from the exercise, to provide health insurance for vulnerable children under the Chess-In-Slums Africa Foundation.
The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Climate Change and Circular Economy, Ms Titi Oshodi, commended AXA Mansard for this programme.
Speaking during the awareness walk that preceded a beach clean-up by AXA employees in Lagos, the aide to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos noted that the government was proud of AXA Mansard and others keenly interested in working to mitigate the impact of climate change.
“At the Lagos State Office of Climate Change and Circular Economy, our goal is to ensure that the governor’s vision for a zero-carbon Lagos by 2050 is not a mirage. This is because we have seen that the impact of climate change is no longer a concept. It is real.
“According to the Lagos State Climate Action Plan 2020 – 2025, more than half of Lagos’s 21 million residents live in informal settlements, which render them highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The Lagos State Adaptation and Resilience Plan (LCARP) estimates the impact of climate inaction at $22-29bn – 11 times the state’s 2022 annual budget.
“So, when we see partners like AXA Mansard doing more than just raising awareness but getting their employees to act for the climate, we must commend them because we want them to do more as we journey to our vision 2050.
“I am especially delighted because of this year’s commemoration theme, Trash-to-Treasure. This theme fits well with the ambition of my office to ensure that we address the challenges of climate change, not just by awareness and advocacy, but to entrench circularity into the mix.
“So, when I heard that AXA Mansard is not just collecting waste, they are valorizing the waste to provide health insurance for vulnerable children, I thought this is a model initiative because it embodies the whole idea of circularity, which is using waste for economic, social and environmental good,” she stated.
Appreciating the gesture from the state government, the Chief Client Officer of AXA Mansard, Ms Rashidat Adebisi, said that AXA remains unrelenting in its quest to ensure that its sustainability agenda of fighting climate change and protecting the vulnerable population has an impact and makes the world safer, healthier, and more prosperous.
“We are delighted and encouraged to have you here today as we once again collectively express our purpose of acting for human progress by protecting what matters. This year, our focus in AXA is on protecting our water bodies.
“So, at AXA Nigeria, we decided to focus on removing waste from the water and increasing awareness about the impact of waste on water.
“The Impact of waste on water is enormous. It has health, environmental, social, and economic ramifications. We have seen the impact of waste on flooding and the socio-economic losses of homes, businesses, and lives that come in its wake. There are also health Implications for polluted water, and the list goes on.
“This is why we have focused on water waste, and we remain proud of how much our employees are doing for this cause. Across Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, hundreds of our employees volunteered to raise awareness for this Initiative.
“They joined in collecting waste and participated in the beach clean-up. For us, this is what AXA Hearts in Action represents, and we remain committed to providing the right leadership and support for our employees to continue to express this shared purpose,” Ms Adebisi noted.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Aduragbemi Omiyale