First Bank of Nigeria Ltd. says it plans to dedicate the month of March to celebrating women across the world.
Mrs Folake Ani-Mumuney, Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications of the bank, said this in a statement on Thursday in Lagos.
According to her, the celebration is in commemoration of the International Women’s Day, scheduled for March 8.
She said that the bank’s plan to celebrate women, was in furtherance of its role in promoting their socio- economic inclusion in the society.
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “Embrace Equity”.
According to her, the celebration will kick off with series of internal activities, designed to celebrate women.
She said the First Women Network (FWN), Mentoring, Coaching and Sponsorship Pillar Webinar would hold on March 3.
She said the event would be organised by the bank’s First Women Network, an initiative that seeks to address the gender gap and increase the participation of women at all levels within the organisation.
“As a member of UN Women, First Bank employs the relevant women empowerment tools, including the Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Gender Gap Analysis Tool in the process of assessing its performance and provides progress reports that feed into the WEPs performance indicators.
“First Bank has a ratio of about 39 per cent : 61 per cent female to men employees, while 32 per cent of women in management, driving a deliberate policy consistent with the WEPs – Equal Opportunity, Inclusion, and Nondiscrimination.
“In line with this commitment, FirstBank is partnering with UN Women on March 15, 2023 and is set to play a key role in a scheduled event driven by UN Women.
“This will showcase young women and men between the ages of 18-35 in Nigeria, who are using technological innovations and tools, to promote gender equality, women’s empowerment and inclusion.
“This is in line with the UN International Women’s Day theme for 2023, “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”, Ani-Mumuney said.
According to her, the conversation on ‘’Embrace Equity’’ as well as ‘’DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality’’, will be reinforced on Twitter Spaces with notable speakers, including Foluso Gbadamosi, the Executive Director of Junior Achievement Nigeria.
She said amongst the activities, scheduled to round off the women’s month commemoration, is the bank’s support of the Heroism of Erelu Ota.
Ani-Mumuney also said that the play aligns with the bank’s First@arts goal of supporting the arts and women.
She said, “Heroism of Erelu Ota is an untold story of a legendary goddess in Ikorodu Kingdom, who travels on the sea with a mat, and her ability to see what the enemies of Ikorodu are planning in their town, played a huge role in assisting the people of Ikorodu during the Agbala war.”
Ani-Mumuney said the bank remained committed to diversity and inclusion as well as women empowerment through digital education and the provision of opportunities for women to access digital tools.
“It is also to bridge the gender digital divide and achieve gender equality.
“Therefore, as in previous years, FirstBank has dedicated March 2023 as a month set aside to celebrate women and all their remarkable achievements over the years.
“This include their leadership roles and pace-setting standards in Science, Technology, Entrepreneurship, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM).
“We are deliberat0ing about partnering to ensure more impact – ensuring that we touch as many women as possible in women’s month and beyond,” she said.
