First Bank of Nigeria has sponsored the surgery of 50 Vesico Virginal Fistula (VVF) patients and supported 100 patients with empowerment packages in Kano State.
The Executive Director, Public Sector, FBN, Mr Abdullahi Ibrahim, said on Thursday in Kano that the effort was part of the bank’s activities in the area of its Corporate Social Responsibility ( CSR).
“As part of activities marking our social responsibility week, we decided to sponsor the surgery for 50 VVF patients.
“After undergoing surgery, we will also empower them to enable them to start businesses to support themselves and their families.
“We are also supporting additional 100 women who were already being treated with the same kind of resources,” he said.
Ibrahim said that Obstetric Fistula is associated with psychological, social and economic challenges, including stigma, discrete, abandonment and neglect.
“That is why there is the need for rehabilitation and reintegration based on patient’s needs.
“That is why philanthropists, well-to-do individuals, NGOs, corporate organizations join hands with government to support the affected patients,” he said.
The executive director said that each of the patients would be given portable pasta-making machine, a bag of flour, vegetable oil and soybeans.
In his remarks, Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje, represented by the Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zahra’u Umar, thanked the bank for the gesture.
He said that the gesture would go a long way in helping those survivors to reclaim their lives and return to their communities with confidence.
The governor also called on other stakeholders to partner with the state in various aspects of social developments.
Ganduje said that the drug addiction reformatory programme at Kiru was one area that required the intervention of NGOs.
One of the beneficiaries, Fatima Yusuf, lauded the bank for empowering them and assured them to make the best use of the items given to them. nan
