UBA Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has joined the rest of the world to celebrate this year’s edition of the International Day of the African Child.
June 16 every year, was set aside by the United Nations as the International Day of the African Child to celebrate children in Africa where it recognizes the courage of students who marched for their right to better education in Soweto South Africa.
Speaking during the commemoration of the day, UBA Foundation Managing Director, Bola Atta said whereas they are not able to reach out to various schools throughout the continent due to the Coronavirus pandemic they will go ahead to send books to students.
She explained that the UBA Foundation centres on three key pillars of education, empowerment, and environment, adding that the bank recognizes the huge role that education and indeed a good reading culture has to play in the lives of the youth.
“These days school children barely make out time to read and are easily distracted by the presence of electronic social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others; and to curb this declining culture of reading across the continent, UBA Foundation came up with the ‘Read Africa’ project, designed to resuscitate the reading culture amongst our youths across the African continent,” Atta noted.
“As a pan-African institution, we believe that the future of Africa lies in her youth and for this reason, UBA Foundation is actively involved in facilitating educational projects and bridging the literacy-wide gap on a pan-African scale, and is helping to rekindle the dwindling reading and literacy culture amongst African youths as they pursue their education,” Atta said.
While emphasizing the belief that a highly educated and well-informed youth is critical to the future of Africa, Atta seized the opportunity to read a few passages of the recommended novel to students and encouraged them to visit the UBA Foundation website to register and gain access to read some more at their leisure.
Last month, the bank also held its UBA Conversations, an annual event commemorating the Africa Day, where world presidents and leaders contributed to discussions aimed at propelling African growth post-COVID-19.
As a Pan African institution, UBA is at the forefront of promoting Africa and African values, especially in the areas of economic development for the continent.
Operating in 20 African countries and globally in the United Kingdom, the United States, and France, the bank has a strong record of supporting its communities, through challenging times.
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