Lagos, Nigeria; 07 December 2022: Nigeria’s leadingq commercial bank, Sterling Bank PLC, has set a new milestone by winning the Overall Best Place to Work title for the fifth consecutive year at the annual Great Place to Work awards held in Lagos recently. The award recognises the best Nigerian firms to work for, with Sterling receiving first place in the Large Corporates category. ahead of multinationals such as DHL and Deloitte.
The win cements the bank’s reputation as the greatest workplace in Nigeria and sets a new standard for the award’s history. In addition to also receiving the Legends award for its consistent efforts to build a Great Place To Work, Sterling was also honoured with the Victor Ligbagbo award for Best Workplace for Millennials.
These awards continue to highlight a stellar year for the bank with laudable recognitions received for HR Best Practice and HR Optimization; Adoption of Technology categories from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management awards, Best In Work-Life Harmony at the Human Resources People’s Magazine awards, and an Approved Employer Certification, Gold Category for Trainee Development as awarded by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. The bank was also named as one the top 25 places to work in Nigeria by LinkedIn.
It will be recalled that the bank dominated the honorees list at the recent Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) induction event, where more than 20 senior executives were inducted into the body. Additionally, the bank’s young talent development was acknowledged with the award of Next Generation Banker being given to Ayodeji Saba at the CIBN dinner.
Sterling Bank has a storied history as an innovative employer and top destination for talent in Nigeria. The bank has received a series of commendations for her talent sourcing, development, and management practises, including being named a Gold Category Workplace and Nigeria’s Overall Best Place To Work for 2021. The bank has also received other acknowledgements over the years from companies such as Jobberman and the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management.
The PCFRR, which was established by the Federal Government following the 2012 flooding, is co-chaired by Africa’s foremost industrialist Aliko Dangote and Dr. Olisa Agbakoba.
The flagging off ceremony for the relief materials distribution for this year started in Borno State and was conducted by the State Governor, Professor BabaganaUmara Zulum Tuesday in Maiduguri, Borno State capital. The Governor thanked the Dangote Flood Committee and promised that he will ensure that the items get to the victims.
UNICEF revealed that the 2022 flood killed 600 people, displaced 1.3 million and destroyed more than 82,000 homes in Nigeria, therefore making it the worst in decades.
The Representative of the Dangote-led Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR), Alhaji Umar Musa Gulani assured at the flagging off for the Northeast zone that the exercise would also be conducted in the other five geopolitical zones of the country.
Gulani said the items from the Committee have been officially handed over to the Borno State Government and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). He said the exercise would be conducted across the six geo-political zones, beginning from the northeastern State of Borno.
The breakdown of items donated includes 86 bags of rice, 34 bags of beans, 34 bags of maize, 34 bags of millet, 34 bags of Guinea Corn, 34 bags of Garri, 86 cartons of noodles, 86 cartons of spaghetti, 86 cartons of macaroni and 86 bags of sugar, and 857 bags of cement, among several food and non-food items.
Gulani said over N10 billion has been expended by the committee to mitigate the effect of flooding since inception in 2012, adding that no fewer than 84 Hostels have been built for flood victims in 24 states of Nigeria. According to him: “This private sector led project is highly commendable and it has been sustained in the past ten years. It is a selfless service from the private sector and Nigerians should appreciate their selfless service to humanity”
Director General of NEMA Alhaji Mustapha HabibAhmed described the Committee’s intervention as a milestone for Nigeria in general, and flood victims in particular. “Responding to the humanitarian outcomes of this nature requires concerted effort,” the DG said, and added that the donation by the Dangote Flood Committee would eventually be made available to flood victims across the affected states in Nigeria.
Speaking on behalf of the victims, Khalifa El-Miskinsaid the victims were extremely appreciative of the gesture.
It would be recalled that the Committee also recently, during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, donated N1.5 billion to fight the virus. Announcing the donation, Dangote said it was imperative for well-meaning Nigerians to help the Federal Government in fighting the virus.
The Committee also recently provided N250 million as relief assistance to victims of the devastating floods in Benue State. Aside from the donation in Benue, the Dangote-led committee also revealed that it had also donated the sum of N150 million (in kind) to provide relief assistance to flood victims in Anambra State.
It also released the sum of N118 million to NEMA to augment the N1.6 billion released by the Federal Government for procurement of food and non-food relief materials in aid of the flood victims in the following 16 states: Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Abuja FCT, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Niger, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, and Sokoto.
It would be recalled that the Committee at its inauguration by former President Goodluck Jonathan raised a whopping N11.35 billion for flood victims. Top on the list of donors at the event was Dangote and the Federal Government, who donated N2.5 billion each.
