Communicating And Connecting With The Community: Zenith Bank’s 17-Year Affair With Lagos Picnickers

Giving back to the community is apparently not a problem with Zenith Bank, hence the regularity with which Nigeria’s biggest bank by bank balances has consistently triggered the joy of the Christmas season with its lights up of the Ajose Adeogun Roundabout.

Zenith Bank has over the years taken it as a joy to trigger the thrill that the Yuletide season offers  with the annual lights up of the Ajose Adeogun Roundabout in Victoria Island, Lagos. Over the last 17 years when the bank initiated the annual light up it has gone beyond just the lights up the roundabout to providing rich décor for most of the Ajose Adeogun that is also synonymous for the different outlets of the Zenith Bank Group.

GWG.ng reports that the annual lights up of the Ajose Adeogun Street is only one element of Zenith Bank’s broad social responsibility goals that has seen the organization quietly make investments in health, public infrastructure, sports and other areas of human activity within and outside the country.

This year as the Group Managing Director of the bank, Dr Ebenezer Onyeagwu led other senior officials of the bank including Mrs Kay Ovia, wife of the founder and chairman, Jim Ovia, the salutary benefits to the community of the Ajose Adeogun lights up was again highlighted.

As Dr Onyeagwu said in his brief remarks before lighting up on November 25, 2023:

“In the spirit of the season we want to use this to communicate with the community and that all those who come here for picnics, for pictorials that they will do it with a sense of fulfillment and that the spirt of this season will always be in our memory.”

GWG.ng reports that setting the platform for such positive influence on society especially in the light of challenges facing the citizenry will be seen as another intangible aspect of CSR that the bank is bringing to the table.

Speaking further, Dr. Onyeagwu said:

“Today, as we turn on the Christmas light with the wife of our Founder and Chairman, Mrs. Kay Ovia, in our midst, we hope with this, we activate the spirit of Christmas in the minds of everyone. We pray that the ambience of the light brings warmth, love, joy, fulfilment, and hope to every one of us. We pray that our country will experience peace. We pray that our joy will be full in this season of joy. So, in the spirit of the Yuletide season, Zenith Bank is also demonstrating that we want to use this to continue communicating and connecting with the community.”

He lauded the efforts of Quantum Markets, who have been responsible for the annual decorations, for their outstandingly creative and beautiful work. According to him, “It is an amazing evening! First and foremost, we need to thank Quantum Markets for the incredible work they are doing. You know, every year, the theme, the style and the ambience look completely different, and today, in a few minutes, we are going to be turning on the light, and you are going to see that it is nothing compared to what you have seen anywhere in the world. I have had the privilege of seeing Christmas light in so many cities across the world, and I say without any sense of contradiction that none compares with what we have in Lagos, Nigeria.”

The bank’s sustainability and CSR initiatives are hinged on the belief that today’s business performance is not all about the financial numbers – the bank believes that an institution’s social investments, contributions to inclusive economic growth and development as well as improvements in the condition of the physical environment, all constitute a balanced scorecard.

Through its CSR initiatives, Zenith Bank has embodied the overarching objective of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which provide a framework for addressing the major challenges confronting society. Overall, Zenith Bank’s total CSR investment in 2022 was NGN1.67 billion, representing 0.75% of its Profit After Tax (PAT).

In recognition of its contributions and social investments to its host communities and the society at large, the bank was recognised as the “Most Sustainable Bank, Nigeria” in the International Banker 2023 Banking Awards and “Most Responsible Organization in Africa” at the Sustainability, Enterprise, and Responsibility (SERAS) Awards 2021.

Send Us A Press Statement Advertise With Us Contact Us

 And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG