By Ndubuisi Francis
The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has reaffirmed its commitment to environmental sustainability, pledging to entrench positive practices in its operations and among its stakeholders.
In his message to the staff to commemorate the 2021 World Environment Day, the DBN Managing Director, Tony Okpanachi, highlighted some of the various challenges that the environment is facing, adding that DBN will continue to prioritise and focus on issues of sustainability essentially aimed at addressing some of the challenges.
He noted: “The World Environment Day is a day set aside by the United Nations to raise awareness on and take action against various environmental issues such as marine pollution, human overpopulation, global warming, sustainable consumption and wildlife crime.
“We, as a bank, will continue to align our operations with issues of sustainability by focusing on issues that put our environment at risk.
“This year’s theme of ‘Ecosystem Restoration’ is a call on everyone – governments, corporate organizations, and individuals – to participate in growing trees, greening cities, rewilding gardens, changing diets, or cleaning up rivers and coasts.
“We are embracing this theme by contributing to the greening of our immediate environments in Lagos and Abuja.”
Okpanachi listed some of the activities the bank and its subsidiary, Impact Credit Guarantee Limited, will be undertaking as part of this year’s celebration to include participation in the restoration of green space on school grounds – the planting of carpet grass, trees, and landscape designs by staff in select schools.
They include Government Junior Secondary School, Durumi, Abuja, and Badore Community School, Lagos, as well as a financial endowment to “Green Clubs” in the respective schools.
These clubs, he stated, will teach the students how to respect and nurture the environment and will ensure that “our efforts do not end after we leave, but truly become sustainable solutions for our communities, moving forward”.
In addition to the two-phased activities, Okpanachi also announced that the bank is partnering with MOE +Art Architecture, a local sustainability enabled design and architecture firm focused on creating sustainable practices and methodologies, to research, test, and archive local indigenous sustainable materials from four geographical locations in Nigeria.
He stated that by partnering with a local design and architecture firm, DBN is contributing to research on reusable materials.
The World Environment Day is celebrated annually on June 5 and is the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment.
It was first held in 1974 and has since then, been acknowledged as a global platform for raising awareness on environmental issues.
It provides an opportunity for businesses, non-governmental organisations, communities, governments and celebrities to advocate and pursue environmental causes.
The Development Bank of Nigeria Plc is a wholesale development finance institution, established by the federal government in collaboration with global development partners, including the World Bank, AfDB, KfW, AFD, and EIB to address the major financing challenges facing Micro, Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
DBN carries out this function by providing financial institutions, predominantly deposit money and microfinance banks with on-lending facilities designed to meet the needs of this segment.
