Dipo Olowookere
As part of its CSR activities to impact its immediate environment and people, Ecobank Nigeria over the weekend held a cancer awareness walk in Lagos to commemorate the Ecobank Day.
During the event themed Preventing Non-Communicable Diseases, the lender further pledged its commitment and financial support to the fight against non-communicable diseases, including cancer.
According to Managing Director Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Patrick Akinwuntan, the bank chose to support this cause because of its mortality rate and the need to encourage the people on regular check-ups to prevent the disease.
He said this year the bank would financially support a few selections of cancer patients nationwide and as well as cancer prevention awareness campaigns.
“We started the Ecobank Day in 2013 where we picked the first Saturday of every October to come together across our 36 countries to pick an item where we can add value to the society. This year, we decided that non communicable diseases deserve to be highlighted.
“We are going to focus on preventing non-communicable diseases and this year we are focusing on cancer,” the bank executive said at the awareness walk, which held simultaneously in the 33 countries in Africa where the bank operates.
Speaking further, Mr Akinwuntan said, “For us, across all the venues today, we are offering either subsidised or free check-up for all the participants, workforce, family and friends in order to check our health status and take care of early prevention.”
“And for those that the cancer impact is much higher, we would bring people together to contribute money to support them as they go through their cancer treatment.
“So, for us in Ecobank Nigeria, you can go to our mobile app and you would see under our pay bills Ecobank cares and you are able to contribute so we support people battling cancer.”
On his part, the Chief Risk Officer, Mr Biyi Olagbami, who also doubles as the lead CSR champion for Ecobank Nigeria, said the bank plans to intensify its CSR activities nationwide.
“In Ecobank, we take our CSR very seriously and we do this across all our presence countries This should be the springboard to a stronger impact going forward. We have been doing this for a few years and we don’t intend to stop instead we intend to increase the intensity of our activity in this area,” he said.
The cancer awareness walk took place simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
The walk’ in Lagos led by its Managing Director and other management staff kicked off at the bank’s headquarters on Ahmadu Bello Way through major streets on Lagos Island and it attracted accolades from passers-by along the route. The event also witnessed health talk by cancer specialists, speeches and testimonies from cancer survivors including free cancer screening.
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