The Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF) has partnered with the Stanbic IBTC bank to plant 30,000 trees across 10 states of the federation.

Stanbic IBTC bank said the move was one of the measures it is taking to reduce carbon emissions and create positive social, environmental and economic impact in the country.

The Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Dr. Demola Sogunle, revealed this during the flag-off of the tree planting exercise which took place at the Lekki Conservation Center (LCC) in Lagos.

He said: “We at Stanbic IBTC are providing 30,000 units of trees to be planted in 10 states. The exercise done here today is symbolic but we’re going to 10 states.

“The whole intention is to be able to create that value for Nigerians in terms of afforestation, being climate sensitive and being able to provide the totality of the value chain that has to do with every tree that is being planted.”

Explaining the rationale behind the partnership with NCF, Sogunle said: “This partnership is very important to us because everything that has to do within creating a positive environmental and economic impact in every area we operate is very important to us.

“NCF has been at the forefront of everything that has to do with afforestation, conversation and we believe that Stanbic IBTC, working together with NCF as strategic partners should be able to deliver on the mandate of both institutions.”

Also speaking at the event, the Director-General of the NCF, Dr Joseph Onoja said: “among many of our partners, they are the ones that come big in terms of our green recovery Nigeria programme, which is an ambitious project that hopes to recover Nigeria’s degraded forest landscape from the less than 10 per cent to at least 25 per cent, as recommended by Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO; 33 per cent as recommended by United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP.

“Stanbic IBTC is coming big for us which shows their commitment in terms of our environment.”