President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday
commended Sterling Bank Plc for its commitment to supporting the present
administration’s initiative to provide qualitative and affordable
health services to Nigerians through strategic partnership with the
Ministry of Health. Such partnership, according to the president, would
serve as an enabler for the Health Ministry to achieve its goal of
revamping the Health sector and ensuring efficient management of health
facilities across the country.
He gave the commendation in Abuja while
inaugurating the Model Primary Health Care Centre for Universal Coverage
in Nigeria, located at Kuchigoro, Abuja Municipal Council.
Buhari specifically commended the bank
for its foresight, innovation and financing support for the project
which is focused on ensuring sustainable health for vulnerable women,
children and the elderly at little or no cost to beneficiaries.
The president also commended other
partners who have demonstrated strong commitment to supporting
government’s efforts to making health services more affordable and
accessibile with the possibility of delivery to the door steps of
Nigerians.
Speaking further on the partnership, the
Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Bank, Mr. Yemi Adeola
disclosed that the bank has already accepted the request of the
Honorable Minister of Health to serve as a primary partner to the
Ministry on all health-related developments adding that the Bank is
already working with some committees tasked with the responsibility of
improving the sector.
In line with the bank’s value
proposition to optimise healthcare centers through the deployment of
technology, he stated that the Bank remains committed to supporting the
Primary Healthcare Centre in Kuchigoro. He also disclosed that the bank
is supporting the 2016 edition of the Nigerian Service Delivery
Innovation Challenge organised by the Federal Ministry of Health
describing it as one of many areas of collaboration between the bank and
the Ministry of Health.
He said further: “At Sterling Bank, we
believe health is extremely important: to value health, you need to
visit a hospital to see what people are passing through. As you probably
know, there are so many worthy causes, but when it comes to health,
it’s too critical because the health of a nation is determined by the
health of the citizenry and is pivotal to the sustained economic growth
of a nation. Therefore, we are pleased to partner with the Federal
Ministry of Health and support the very hardworking minister who is
doing a very good job to give quality health to our people.”
Adeola assured stakeholders that the
bank would bring in private sector innovation and style as well as
critical parameters to measure the success of the programme on a
month-on-month basis and year-on-year basis to ensure the success of the
programme from the logistics stand point and the point of view of
implementation as the project rolls out from state to state.
He disclosed that the bank is already
providing financial and logistics support to operators in the sector
across the value chain with assurance that the bank would focus on the
entire ecosystem of the health sector.
Adeola explained that as part of the
bank’s commitment to a healthy environment, Sterling Bank has invested
over N500 million in various activities under the Sterling Make Over
(STEM) social responsibility initiative. The programme covers the
donation of uniforms to sweepers and highway managers in 15 states, tree
planting activities to checkmate erosion in the Northern part of the
country and the national quarterly cleaning exercise.
by James Emejo in Abuja/Thisdaylive
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