As part of its efforts to combat Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Nigeria, Access Bank has partnered with Nollywood filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan on his new movie ‘Citation’.
Chairman, Access Bank PLC, Dr Ajoritsedere Awosika, said that the bank’s effort was to bridge the gap that still exists. She said At Access Bank, we believe in gender equality and we also believe that there is a need to make women feel safe not only in Nigeria but indeed, across the world.
She said women in many societies have been setback by issues like sexual and gender-based violence, denied education, finance, and health care.
Similarly, Group head, W Initiative at Access bank, Ayona Trimell said that “The issue of gender-based violence reaches every corner of the world and Nigeria has indeed been plagued by this issue for too long.”
She expressed excitement about the partnership stating that since 2014 when Access Bank W Initiative was established, the Bank has executed countless initiatives targeted at empowering women.
The screening of ‘Citation’ marks the beginning of Access Bank’s month-long activities aimed at addressing prevalent issues on SGBV in Nigeria.
As part of the activities planned, the Bank has also partnered with the Nigerian Governors Wives against Gender-based Violence (NGWA-GBV) to implement high-impact projects across all geo-political zones in Nigeria.
Kunle Afolayan in his reaction to the Access Bank partnership said that he has seen and heard the impact of the bank on the lives of women through its W Initiative, hence, it was easy to select the Bank as a partner given their body of work.
He said the movie was not filmed to announce that SGBV issues exist rather to start conversations about the measures that need to be put in place in other to curb the menace.
