One of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions, Firstbank has decided to offer 90-days moratorium on SME loans and introduce special waivers on repayment fees on the Bank’s credit cards as parts of the palliative measures it has taken to reduce the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
The bank believes these enhanced palliative measures will help its customers and Nigerians in the extended COVID 19 lockdown in some states.
Unveiling these measures, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank said: “With these measures, we are delighted to support our customers because you all have empowered us to do so by choosing to Bank with us. This is indeed a time to double down efforts and explore opportunities to ease the impact of the extension on you.”
He also appreciates the customers for the giant strides achieved by Firstbank in its alternative banking channels, noting that the transaction volumes is a positive testimony to the resilience of its staff to keep things going as COVID 19 will neither defeat nor slow the Bank down.
“We remain fully persuaded that together we will overcome this too. Our experience over 126 years tells us the solutions lie within us, more than ever as we uphold our promise to you to be here for you and put You First always,” he added.
Meanwhile, Firstbank has kickoff the Lagos State Government & Roducate e-learning initiative.
The initiative, sponsored by FirstBank is designed to ensure children are adequately guided and engaged through their learning experience during the Covid-19 Pandemic period. It takes care of the government accredited curriculum for primary, secondary and tertiary schools.
Upon the lockdown in March, the Bank had announced to move One Million children to e-learning which is implemented with a number of renowned organisations that have come on board from within and outside the continent. These partners include IBM, which is providing opportunities for the acquisition of digital skills including Coding, Artificial Intelligence and Data Science & Analytics which would promote opportunities to learn skills of the future. These measures are taken in identifying with the roles of children at securing the future of any country.
Reflecting on the words by Benjamin Franklin, thus ‘an investment in knowledge pays the best interest’ Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, CEO, FirstBank said “in keeping with who we are at FirstBank, our commitment to self-development and continuous improvement is never far from our thinking. As such we are encouraging all to consider and register for any of the excellent programmes being offered free by Ivy League schools and have curated a list of them covering topics such as management, personal development, and entrepreneurship which can be found on our website.