By Yusufu S. Bangura
To commemorate the Day of the African Child in the country, the United Bank of Africa (UBA) on Thursday 15th June, donated literature books to secondary school pupils.
The donation ceremony took place at the National Commission for Children, Bass Street, Off Kingharman Road in Freetown.
The donated items are 9 cartoons of books in total of 520 pieces.
Speaking to the pupils, Head of Marketing and Cooperate Communications at UBA, Sallieu Sesay said as a bank they are very happy to commemorate the Day of African Child with pupils from different schools.
He said in commemorating the day with the pupils they thought it fit to donate books in the form of novels to various schools in Freetown through their Read Africa Initiative, which he described as a move in the right direction to revamp the culture of reading among pupils in the country.
The Head of Marketing added that the donation is a reflection to demonstrate UBA’s commitment towards enhancing the quality of education for the African child, stating that the move by the bank will help the pupils to develop the culture of reading which he said is very important towards the development of the African child.
He further stated that given the African Child quality education will help contribute tremendously towards the socio-economic development of Africa.
He said the UBA Foundation is the corporate social responsibility arm of the Bank that focuses in the area of Education, Environment, Economic empowerment and social projects, adding that they are using the Foundation to donate the books to school pupils under the commission.
He continued that the Bank knows the importance of education, stating that they want to empower the pupils through reading because when they are empowered, they can change the narrative of the country.
He encouraged the pupils to make good use of the given opportunity in order to imbibe the culture of reading, and further encouraged them to stay away from any form of violence that will destroy their future.
Also speaking, Advocacy and Communication Coordinate for National Commission for Children, Addie Valcarcel expressed appreciation to the Bank for the kind gesture, which she said they were not expecting it.
She said that was the first time the bank was donating books to them, which shows that the commission is doing very well and that they were happy for the books given to them.
She added that the commission is guided by the Child Rights Act of 2007 and other International Instrument that are safe guiding instruments towards the upbringing of children, stating that everyone knows is a difficult task to bring up children especially working with children that are not their biological children but because of the guidance of the documents they were working with and their professionalism, and commitments they always enquire to do the right thing.
She further said as a commission, they work with every child across the county. She assured the Head of Marketing at UBA that the donated books will be used for their intended purpose in order for pupils to develop the culture of reading.
