The Unity Bank has donated an office complex of the Borno State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to the State Government. The donation, according to the Bank, was to demonstrate and fulfil its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to the state affected by the 12-year Boko Haram insurgency. While commissioning the office complex and utility vehicle; Thursday in Maiduguri; Governor Babagana Zulum said: “The partnership with the bank; will ensure the continuous revamp of the education sector destroy in the over a decade terrorism in Borno state.”
She said the utility vehicle was also to ease the board’s logistics for project supervision and monitoring. According to him, over 500 schools were torched along with over 100,000 children and women orphaned and widowed since July, 2009. Speaking on the donated office complex, the Unity Bank Managing Director, Mrs. Tomi Somefun; disclosed: “This was conceived as a long standing partner to the State Government and people of Borno to support the initiatives of revamping the education sector affected in the insurgency. “This is a significant gesture of appreciation of the cordial relationship that the state and bank have enjoyed over the years.
Somefun, who was represented by Bank’s Zonal Head for Abuja and North Central, Nurudeen Mohammed, said: “SUBEB’s Office building stands today as a symbol of our defiant resolve and commitment to education in the northeast and the country.” She noted that there are signs of ending the insurgency that had setbacks to the development of education. According to her, the bank is committed to educational support, as the State Government embarks on the massive rebuilding of destroyed educational structures. She added that the support was to provide the critical infrastructures required in the education sector.
Somefun noted that Zulum has displayed by providing “functional and quality education” through human capacity building and the rebuilding of educational infrastructures. According to her, these will restore education to its pride of place in the state. She said that in restoring the State’s agricultural base, it will fast-tracking the reintegration of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) into their communities. She noted that the reintegration of IDPs was to restore their means of livelihoods. “The bank did not close operations during the insurgency, as five branches in Maiduguri metropolis remained open to customers,” she said, noting that it will sustain the goodwill to change the narratives of the state.
