Sterling Bank has announced multiple donations to ensure a holistic response to the Coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world.
The donations cut across infrastructural support to providing opportunity for free tests across different locations and financial support to the federal government in partnership with the Nigerian Private Sector Coalition Against COVID.
- The sum of N250 million was donated to support the federal government’s effort to curtail the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country and end the epidemic.
- Also, in furtherance of its focus on not just the health sector but the healthcare professionals who risk their lives while treating infected persons, the Bank has supported crowdfunding platform, Giving.ng, to raise a N1billion Health Workers Fund to cater to the needs of health workers at the frontlines taking care of those infected with the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The Bank donated N25million to kickstart the fund. It will enable corporations, institutions and individuals in Nigeria and the diaspora support healthcare workers and reward them for their sacrifice and bravery.
- In addition to this, the Bank also supported the country’s first COVID-19 drive-thru mass mobile testing center with an initial investment of N10million. This was done in partnership with Life Bank and the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) to make testing easier and faster. This reduces the burden of testing on the Nigerian Center of Disease Control (NCDC) and the risk of contagion of the disease due to ignorance of infected persons. The investment will be scaled up as the project expands to different locations across the country.
- To strengthen public health infrastructure, the Bank donated N50million for the equipping of the COVID-19 Isolation ward at the National Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos in partnership with Fate foundation philanthropy to cater to the increasing COVID-19 confirmed cases.
The Bank will continue scaling efforts to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic and promote a healthy society for the country.