UBA Foundation advances African youth education with Read Africa

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, through the UBA Foundation, its corporate social responsibility arm, has continued on its quest to educate and empower African youths, having donated over 500 copies of ‘The Fishermen’ to Our Lady of Mercy Girls Secondary School in Nairobi, Kenya.

The book, which is authored by Chigozie Obioma, was donated to the school under the UBA Foundation’s Read Africa Initiative. The initiative, which was launched in 2011 with the aim of encouraging students to improve their vocabulary and communication skills through reading, has been changing the lives of African students across the continent for six years.

Through the initiative, the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Foundation is helping to revive the declining reading culture amongst African youths as they pursue their Education.

“The UBA Foundation is committed to uplifting the lives of the societies within which they operate by creating dynamic educational platforms for future generations on the continent,” Bola Atta, CEO of the UBA Foundation told the students.   “The pursuit of knowledge should be a lifelong activity that starts at a very young age. You should read all types of books so that you can explore and shape your own narrative.”

Atta encouraged the students to read voraciously. The Foundation has donated over 100,000 books and educational materials to various schools across Africa in its commitment to contribute positively to the development of African youths.

Isaac Mwige Managing director and CEO of UBA Kenya, further encouraged the students to cultivate an interest in reading, not just the academic text books, but also materials outside of their course work in order to acquire knowledge.

“Everything you read fills your head with new bits of information, and you never know when it might come in handy. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to tackle any challenge you’ll ever face,” he said.

He further said that books ‘allow us to expand our minds and enables us to keep abreast in all fields of human endeavor.’

“The Students of Our Lady of our Mercy will benefit greatly from. eading the books donated by UBA Foundation today,” he said.

The UBA provided funding to Our Lady of Mercy to pay for the accommodation of ten girls in the school dormitory.

The Foundation is committed to the socio-economic betterment of communities across the African continent focusing on development in the areas of Environment, Education, Economic Empowerment and Special Projects.

 

Odinaka Anudu & Angel James