First Bank of Nigeria Plc’s continuing commitment to corporate social responsibility was reinforced on Wednesday, January 13, 2010, when it donated and commissioned a faculty building to the School of Medicine, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu.

The commissioning of the Faculty of Dentistry which held at the teaching hospital’s permanent site at Ituku/Ozalla in Enugu State was done on behalf of the Management of FirstBank by the Chief Marketing Officer of the Bank, Mrs. Celine Loader who was representing the Bank’s Group Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Bisi Onasanya. She said the project was undertaken as part of FirstBank’s recognition of the role education plays in national growth and development.

The front view of the Faculty of Dentistry Building donated by FirstBank to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku/Ozalla in Enugu State.

“At FirstBank, we recognize that education is fundamental to national development. But without health, the capacity for any kind of development is severely limited”, she said, adding that the consideration of these imperatives informs FirstBank choice of health and education as core components of its corporate social investment and community development.

Mrs. Loader said the Faculty of Dentistry will enhance specialist medical research and teaching and therefore healthcare for people in the Eastern Region, the catchment area of the university. FirstBank’s support for Nigerian universities has been in the form of endowments which currently exists as 12 professorial chairs in federal universities nationwide.

L-R: Chief Marketing Officer and representative of the Group Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Mrs. Celine Loader; Business Development Manager for Enugu, Mrs. Nwanneka Okolo; and Vice Chancellor of The University of Nigeria Nsukka, Professor Barth Okolo at the official commissioning of the Faculty of Dentistry Building donated by FirstBank to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Hospital on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at the permanent site of the hospital at Ituku/Ozalla, Enugu State.

Recently, based on user-defined needs in which the communities identify their own development priorities, the Bank has been complementing these endowment schemes with special infrastructure projects.
The Vice Chancellor of UNN, Professor Barth Okolo thanked FirstBank for being a supportive institution as he stressed that the University of Nigeria Nsukka shares many attributes with FirstBank being leaders in their respective sectors.

Dignitaries at the commissioning include the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Professor Barth Okolo; the Provost, College of Medicine, Professor Onwubere; the Chief Medical Director of UNTH, Dr. Anthony Mba; and a team of FirstBank officers which include the Business Development Manager of Enugu, Mrs. Nwanneka Okolo; the Business Development Manager of Awka, Mr. Columbus Ndifon, amongst others.