By Peter Uzoho
Zenith Bank Plc recently marked the 13th edition of the annual Zenith Bank Christmas Youth Parade (ZCYP).
The event tagged: ‘It’s Digital! It’s My Future,’ was a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative of the bank aimed at supporting the development and education in Nigeria.
Participants were drawn from select schools, alternative care homes and family-like care centers within Lagos State who came to take part in the road carnival on the street housing the tier one bank.
The event which lasted till noon had entertainers such as Falz De Bhald Guy, Mayorkun, Kaffy, and the magical Mr. Robinson, performing.
Award of different categories were presented to some of the participants for their excellent performances.
Declaring the event open, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Peter Amangbo, said it was designed to occupy Nigerian youths meaningfully during the yuletide season through funfair and youth development activities.
Amangbo said: “It is also a forum established to create partnership that will engender a common course and vision. With the theme: ‘It’s Digital, It’s My Future’, this year’s parade aims to bring to fore the pivotal position youths occupy in the digital age.
“Over the years, the parade has succeeded in creating a platform for children from diverse cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds to meet, interact and have fun. Through the various entertaining games and activities, the children are exposed to various cultural norms of the country.”
Also speaking, the Deputy Managing Director, Zenith Bank, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, said the essence of the parade was to express love and give the children a sense of belonging and a sense of hope, while also using the opportunity to usher in Christmas for the youths.
He, however, stated that the bank’s performance in 2018 was good, adding: “If you look at our performance for the third quarter of September it shows improvement over the corresponding period for last year. So we will say that notwithstanding the challenges in the business environment, certainly 2018 result will be better than what we did 2017. We are very optimistic that there will be more improvement in 2019.”
