TQM report,
The Albino Foundation (TAF) on Tuesday, 9th of February, 2021 paid an advocacy visit to the Regional Office (North) of Fidelity Bank Plc.
The National Programme Manager of TAF, Mr. Damian Ivom while stating the agenda of their visit said that their visit is centered on making the bank’s facilities accessible to persons with Disabilities and building the capacity of the bank’s management staff on accessible employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
The Inclusion Works Project Supervisor of Sightsavers, Mr. Rasak Adekoya in his speech pointed out the skills gap as well as the demand gap in the labour system while drawing reference to the fact that lack of access to education is one of the problems faced by Persons with Disabilities.
He also said that in terms of employment, having done a labour market assessment in Nigeria and discovered that private companies such as the Fidelity bank are not discriminatory in their employment, the problem they face is how to employ PWDs. According to him, some of the employers do not know how to make their recruitment process inclusive, how to ensure their customer service attracts more PWDs since PWDs also contribute to the growth of the economy.
Speaking further, he stated that Sightsavers will work with employers of labour as well as the government to bridge the gap by providing technical disability support to private sector employers such as they have been done in Standard Chartered Bank in Kenya and Uganda and currently going on with the Nigerian branch of Standard Chartered as well as Access bank and has been done in Unilever Plc.
Mr. Rasak in enlightening the staff of Fidelity bank brought to light services Sightsavers renders, ranging from providing disability audit for their buildings, providing disability confidence support to HR, procurement and sustainability teams, to training them. In providing disability support, the policies, programs, processes and how to make disability inclusive are looked at with no cost involved on the part of the private organization. He brought to their knowledge, the Nigerian Disability Law which states that 5% of the workforce should be PWDs and all public buildings should be accessible to PWDs.
Speaking further, Mr. Rasak commended the SME program of Fidelity Bank, acknowledging it as one of the best he has seen so far. He therefore used the opportunity to intimate the Mrs Mordi and Mr. Hasan on the Innovation Challenge for Entrepreneurs with Disabilities, a Sightsavers program which has kicked off in Kenya and Uganda. He stated that the program entails people sending in their applications, out of which the top five are selected and supported with the sum of a thousand dollars each by private organizations to start up their businesses. He called on the support of Fidelity bank, seeing that they have an existing program similar to this, to mainstream it into their program.
He went further to disclose that Sightsavers will cover the operational cost while requesting the support of private organizations with the sum of five thousand dollars to be given directly to whoever wins the competition. Mr. Rasak concluded by reminding those present that in terms of training their staff, the HR and management teams on the need for them to understand why inclusivity is needed, Sightsavers will be willing to do at no cost.
The Regional Manager North, Fidelity Bank, Mrs. Mordi stated in her response that Fidelity bank is a responsive organization and has PWDs working with them presently. According to her, disability has not been a disadvantage to applicants as once they had the competence sought for during the interview, they were employed. With regard to assisting the HR with further recruitment process and training, it was agreed that a meeting can be arranged for Sightsavers to liaise with the HR department which is at Lagos to come up with a program which could be of help to PWDs. She went further to express how passionate that Fidelity bank is about SMEs and have supported them through grants while letting Sightsavers know that if they have their criteria of selecting the participants among themselves, the bank will be willing and able to support such persons.
The Executive Director North Directorate of the Bank, Mr Hassan Imam in his response agreed and commended the response of Mrs. Mordi and buttressed on the fact that it is part of the Fidelity bank’s policy to recruit persons with disabilities. He pointed out that they have about two of such persons working with them without segregation of any form; he hoped to expand it to 5% in line with the Disability law. He concluded by talking about their robust SME program which covers all business across the segment of SME, stating that they will be more than willing to partner with Sightsavers. He however requested that more data and information on what they do, how far they have gone be made available to them to enable them know how the SME basket of Fidelity bank can offer their support.
At end, Mr. Rasak expressed his willingness and readiness and he is looking forward to have contact with HR of the bank
TQM report that in the advocacy visit were: Damian Ivom, National Programme Manager of the Albino Foundation; Rasak Adekoya, Inclusion Works Project Supervisor for Sightsavers; Afam Kasim, The Albino Foundation Communication Officer; Ujah Suleiman, International Disability Alliance Project Supervisor.
