Heritage partners firm on youth empowerment

Heritage Bank Plc has partnered Next Generation to educate and empower pupils and students of about 300 primary and secondary schools in Lagos, in a bid to help them to take sound financial decisions in the future.

Team Lead, Customer Insight and Business Support of the bank, Ajiri Efeturi, disclosed this at a seminar organised by Next Generation, a-non-governmental organisation to raise emotionally intelligent generation.

The event, held at the Centre for International and Advanced Professional Studies (CIAPS) in Lagos, recently, was tagged: “Brace Yourself For The Future”, showed the bank’s passion and commitment to playing its part in the Nigerian society.She said in a bid to address the gap in financial literacy, the bank has launched a comic magazine that would teach students financial literacy at a very early age, adding that the basis of the financial literacy is needs and wants.

Efeturi enjoined the students to spend their money wisely and keep some for the future, remarking that there is need for goal mapping, budgeting and development of financial behaviour.

She encouraged them to belong to school financial clubs, open savings account with the bank so that the bank would allocate relationship manager to them who would help to develop them financially.

Besides the financial literacy programme, the students who were in the age brackets of nine to 17 years from Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls, Ifako International Schools, Iju Road, Ifako-Ijaiye, Divine Offspring School, among others, were also exposed to talks on the beauty of morality, trauma and abuse and addiction, prevalent among teens.

Folashade Ajayi, a relationship and sexuality coach, enjoined them to make personal decision to abstain from sex before marriage, avoid being alone with someone to whom they are not sexually and physically attached and avoid pornography and exotic films, literature (novels, magazines) and music, among others. 

Also speaking, Timi Oyebode, said for a victim to recover from trauma, abuse and addiction, such a person need to track the first experience, grieve her loss, state her gain, track triggers, create new coping mechanisms, response, friends, activities, life purpose and mantra.

Such a victim should also go for rehabilitation when necessary, plan to fall and to rise again; acknowledge that she is wounded and expose the wound to the open air, forgive herself; the abuser, God and discover the purpose of the pain because every pain has a purpose.

Earlier in her address of welcome, Mrs. Olufunke Fajusigbe, an advertising practitioner who also doubles as the founder and the convener of the forum said the purpose was for the participants to discover greatness from within themselves.     

Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of Centre for International and Advanced Professional Studies (CIAPS), Prof. Anthony Kila, advised the students to see themselves as assets and their bodies as treasures, adding that successful people use their bodies and brains to achieve success.