Leading commercial bank Sterling Bank Plc, is cementing its reputation as a Great Place To Work with its recent work-free day announcement for all employees across the country. This is in line with the bank’s Active Citizens Programme (ACP) encouraging employees to register and collect their Permanent Voters’ Cards.
Beyond promoting voting rights, the bank’s Active Citizens Programme also motivates employees to be productive, responsible, caring and be contributing members of their communities in alignment with its purpose of Enriching Lives.
Commenting on the programme, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, Chief Executive Officer, Sterling Bank Plc remarked that the bank is passionate about promoting active citizenship among employees as a business of wholly Nigerian origin which makes it important to place national interests above individual preferences.
“We believe that when more citizens are active and perform their duties to the nation, the country becomes a better place for all. These duties include abiding by the law, tax remittance and more importantly participating in the electoral process to strengthen our democracy. In addition to obeying the law and tax remittance, we believe that Nigerian businesses can help strengthen her democracy by encouraging their employees to register, get their PVCs and turnout in numbers to vote which on the other hand, empowers us as individuals to shape our future.”
He further explained that the bank’s confidence in Nigeria’s future is the reason why employees who are eligible to vote in the upcoming elections are being encouraged to do so. “As a result, each employee across Nigeria will get a work-free till the end of the year to enable them register and collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC)”. The most exciting outcome of this drive is not just about the eligible voters in Sterling Bank who will be able to participate in the forthcoming elections, but the ripple effect it will have on our society as our highly engaged employees will use their voice to enlighten their communities on the importance of active civic engagement in the electoral process.” Mr. Suleiman opined.
Reacting to the announcement, Temi Dalley, Chief Human Resources Officer at Sterling Bank, said “Voting is such a powerful exercise that makes it possible for us to decide our future yet so many of us take it for granted and do not exercise that power. We are hoping that through our Active Citizenship Programme, other organisations can join us to empower their employees with all they require to participate in the upcoming elections.”
Sterling Bank’s Active Citizenship Programme is anchored on the promise to continuously enrich the lives of its customers, partners, shareholders and local communities while the company also indicated that the work free day is the first in the series of its civic responsibility initiatives.