Ecobank, one of the key sponsors of the ‘Light Up the City’ event, has promised to continually participate in the programme to bring on board the needed excitement that surrounds the Christmas and new year celebrations.
Dan Sackey, Managing Director of Ecobank, in a speech, stated that the bank’s participation and sponsorship of the event also form part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which aims at putting smiles on the faces of people within the communities they operate.
“We will continue to participate in this event to help create the needed excitement around the Christmas and New Year seasons. We also see this as part of the bank’s CSR, for which we usually make investments in worthy charitable causes within the communities we operate in. We do this in the hope of positively impacting the lives of people that we serve,” he said.
Mr. Sackey indicated that it is also a platform to create awareness about the digital financial services solutions that are deployed to help Ghana’s financial inclusion agenda, hence, the bank’s continuous participation for the third time.
According to him, Christmas celebrations in major cities in the world are usually characterized by beautiful street lighting, Christmas trees, paintings, showing of love and gifting, all done to commemorate the birth of Christ and as well as being thankful to God, stating that God has been good to the bank, therefore another way of showing appreciation.
“During this season, many of us appreciate God the Almighty, for his protection and blessings throughout the year and often pray for many more glorious years ahead. As a leading financial services provider, Ecobank has a lot to be thankful for this year. This is because, in spite of the many devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic globally, we have continued to remain one of the leading and topmost performing banks in Ghana,” he added.
He indicated that the year 2021, thus marks the third consecutive year, since Ecobank sponsored the maiden edition in 2019, which was done only for Accra but very hopeful that going forward, other major cities will be explored and added on.
Lauding other key sponsors for the ‘Light Up the City 2021’, he said: “I want to commend Jandel and Mullen Lowe for working tirelessly to put this beautiful lighting décor together and to all other partners who have contributed to the success of this event.”
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, in his remarks, stated that ‘Light Up the City’ is a key component of the ‘Operation Clean your Frontage’ campaign which was launched in October 2021 by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He expressed his gratitude to all the organisations that sponsored the event while praising that “undoubtedly, your support will go a long way to support the efforts of the president in making Accra, the cleanest city in Africa of which greening, beautification and lighting up the city is key to making the city an exciting place to live.”
He extended a word of caution to all, saying “with the Christmas festivity fast approaching, let us remind ourselves of the carnage and indiscipline that are perpetrated on our roads. Let me use this occasion to humbly appeal to everyone here to be careful when plying our roads. Let us observe all traffic regulations, be mindful of pedestrians and consider other users of our roads as one of our own. Let us continue to observe the COVID-19 protocols to curb the virus especially with the onset of the new variant, Omicron.”
The ‘Light Up the City 2021’ was organized in collaboration with the office of the Greater Accra Regional Minister, local assemblies, Ecobank, and other key partners, including Jandel and Mullen Lowe.
