UBA Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, yesterday joined the rest of the world to celebrate African children in this year’s edition of the International Day of the African Child.
June 16 every year has been set aside by the United Nations as the International Day of the African Child to celebrate children in Africa, where it recognises the courage of students who marched for their right to better education in Soweto, South Africa; and as an institution that cares about the education and welfare of the African child, UBA through its Foundation marks this all important event annually.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown of educational institutions, UBA Foundation was not able to visit schools and community centres as is its usual practice. However, the Foundation held activities online, whereby students of secondary schools were afforded the opportunity to watch and listen to virtual mentoring and reading sessions.
During the virtual session, the Managing Director, UBA Foundation, Bola Atta, spoke to students on various issues ranging from financial literacy and the importance of imbibing a good reading culture to nation-building. She also explained why UBA Foundation centres on the three key pillars of Education, Empowerment and Environment, adding that the bank through its foundation recognises the huge role that education, and indeed a good reading culture, has to play in the lives of our youth.
She said: “These days, schoolchildren barely make time to read and are easily distracted by the presence of electronic social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others; and to curb this declining culture of reading across the continent, UBA Foundation came up with the ‘Read Africa’ project, designed to resuscitate the reading culture among our youth across the African continent.
“As a pan-African institution, we believe that the future of Africa lies in its youth, and for this reason UBA Foundation is actively involved in facilitating educational projects and bridging the wide literacy-gap on a pan-African scale, and is helping to rekindle the dwindling reading and literacy culture among African youth as they pursue their education,” Atta said.
While emphasising the belief that a highly-educated and well-informed youth is critical to the future of Africa, Atta seized the opportunity to read a few passages of the recommended novel to students and encouraged them to visit the UBA Foundation website on www.ubagroup.com/uba-foundation, register and gain access to read some more at their leisure.
UBA, through its Foundation, believes that quality education is crucial in developing the manpower needed by Africa to exploit emerging opportunities and propel the continent to higher levels of development.
Last month, the bank also held its ‘UBA Conversations’ – an annual event commemorating Africa Day wherein world presidents and leaders contribute to discussions aimed at propelling African growth post COVID-19.
As a pan-African Institution, UBA is at the forefront of promoting Africa and African values, especially in the area of economic development for the continent. Operating in 20 African countries and globally in the United Kingdom, United States and France, the bank has a strong record of supporting its communities through challenging times.
