A journey to Firstbank’s academy

Abebe Village Road situated at Iganmu, Lagos is tranquil on a cool Wednesday morning.  The quietness of the hour is a sharp contrast to the busy Costain bus stop it shares border with. The tranquillity is just perfect for the intellectual activities taking place inside one of the buildings, The First Academy, located on the road.

First Academy is the First Bank of Nigeria’s training school, where both old and new employees of the bank are constantly trained and retrained. That morning Ayodele Jaiyesimi, group head, human capital management development, FirstBank is ready to take me into her world; a world where skill acquisition for optimal productivity abounds.

Jaiyesimi says FirstBank understands that for it to attain its aspirations, it needs the right kind of people and skills. It is for this reason the academy has long moved from just being a learning centre to become a full fledged academy.

“Our staffs are our brand,” she explains, “and we have the state-of-the-art, hostels, classrooms and other facilities that will make them feel the way the way the bank wants them to act.

She explains the school is divided into Foundation, Leadership, Management and Specialized schools where staff go through rigorous training, after which their performance in the various tests conducted will determine if they are actually qualified to work in FirstBank.

“It is in this spirit of commitment to the customer’s needs and serving the customers in the best way it can that FirstBank has consistently upgraded its training school, The First Academy to help train both new staffs and existing ones, so as to deliver quality services to the customers they serve. The academy has been designed to help groom new and existing staffs and at the same time, make provisions for recreational activities, so as to help keep the students in the school in a very relaxed condition to learn,” she adds.

The First Academy is the first of its kind not just in Lagos but also in Abuja, Enugu, Kano and Ibadan. They are all well equipped.

The administrative block, the engine room of the training school has curriculum planning and learning industry rooms. This department is driven by technology, hence it has special project and ICT unit. In addition, there is an administration space where administrative activities and every hospitable related duty are carried out. The knowledge management which disseminate relevant information are given out and received is also included here.

The cafeteria where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served is quite comfortable and seats about 80 people. Moving down to the conference room, there are lots of state-of-art facilities and it is fully equipped with internet facilities to serve the purpose of learning. This area seats about 120 people. Programmes and conferences are often held here.

Going over to an area that will interest the mind is the recreational activities centre. It has a well equipped tennis-court to accommodate the lovers of table tennis and a swimming pool. The gym is fully equipped with table tennis snooker, weight lift and other instruments to help keep fit.

Speaking during the tour around the academy, Oshiomha Irumhekha, head, First Academy says the recreational activities shows the academy’s belief in edutainment, which is the combination of education and entertainment. After the day’s stress the students can ease the stress by engaging in some of the recreational activities made available for them.

Irumhekha further explains trainers come in often to teach and train the students. The gym opens from 5pm by that time, the day’s academic training would have ended.

In addition, there are 54 fully air-conditioned rooms in the hostels at Iganmu and accommodates one student each. There are also 10 classrooms, spacious enough to accommodate a good number of students and also equipped with facilities that will aid learning.

A branch laboratory is another interesting site and a replica of a First bank structure. Everything that is taught here is a practical example of what happens in the bank on day-to-day basis. From the customer service transaction to the teller, then the ATM support function and the practical funds transfer are all lessons taught and practiced right in this branch. This is an avenue for the students to practice what they have been taught in the class rooms and prepare them ahead on what to face in the bank.

 The computer room accommodates about 35 students, each one having a system to work with. Students are given Micro soft training and online course evaluation. Irumhekha also revealed evaluations and analysis are done here and this is replicated in all learning centres in the other states where the First Academy exists, adding that the students learn and improve to make sure they deliver with a difference.

Pamela Obi, dean, Foundation and Leadership Schools says the library happens to be a world class library and has over 300 thousand textbooks and journals that aids learning and the library is open to all students at all times.

“We have staffs that undertake Masters Programme and PHD and the library is there to help them make extensive research,” she explains.

There are several classrooms but the Foundation Tier One Class are for those coming fresh into the industry. The fresh students go through three months of intensive training in the school and 3 other months of a second training in the bank.

 Chris Justice, one of the facilitators at the First Academy programme says what his institution does here is to train the students in financial analysis and credit.

 “The students that come here are from different educational background. We try our best to teach them the basis so they can understand. We break the terminologies of accounting and credit into principles they can relate to,” he says

Onyinye Akuonu, one of the students in the foundation class, has been at the First Academy for eight weeks within that period, she has been drilled in accounting procedures. She says different techniques have been used to impact her positively.