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FirstBank has announced the commencement of its 2025 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) Week, scheduled to hold from October 27 to November 1, 2025. According to a statement by the Bank, now in its ninth year, the annual event underscores the Bank’s commitment to community empowerment, environmental protection, and the advancement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The statement further noted that FirstBank aims to cultivate a culture of compassion and social responsibility within communities through its flagship initiative, Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness (SPARK). The initiative encourages staff and partners to participate in activities that enhance lives and foster sustainable growth.

Speaking on the event, Olayinka Ijabiyi, Acting Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications at FirstBank, said the CR&S Week serves as a reminder of the Bank’s long-standing culture of giving back. “CR&S Week is a call to action. It is about showing up for humanity, being kind to one another, and proving that even the smallest act can ripple into lasting change,” Ijabiyi said.

“FirstBank believes that kindness is a currency that never devalues, and since 2017, our staff have consistently gone the extra mile to give back through the SPARK initiative.”

According to the statement, “During CR&S Week, employees across the FirstBank Group—including FirstBank Nigeria, FirstBank UK, FirstBank Gambia, FirstBank Sierra Leone, FirstBank DRC, FirstBank Guinea, FirstBank Ghana, FBNBank Senegal, First Pension, and First Nominees—will participate in volunteer programmes that address social and environmental challenges in their host communities.

As part of its 2025 activities, FirstBank will plant at least 20,000 trees in partnership with the Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), reinforcing its commitment to Nigeria’s 2060 decarbonisation agenda.

This marks the final phase of the Bank’s pledge to plant 50,000 trees by 2025, following the successful planting of 31,000 trees in the past two years.’’ Also, the Bank stated that activities will culminate in visits to orphanages, internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, and charitable organisations across Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa, and the United Kingdom, where staff will donate essential items and spend time with vulnerable groups adding that these initiatives align with its sustainability pillars and commitment to the Green Recovery Nigeria agenda, reinforcing its dedication to environmental stewardship and human development.