The United Nations Global Compact is a voluntary initiative based on CEO commitment aimed at mobilizing a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders to create the better world we seek. The UN Global Compact supports companies to do business responsibly by aligning their strategies and operations with the Ten Principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption; and taking strategic actions to advance broader societal goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on collaboration and innovation.
The Bank of Industry continued its active membership to the UN Global Compact, joining the international community to dedicate resources towards global efforts aimed at bridging the gap for the achievement of the SDGs. We also participated in the activities of the local network Nigeria, collaborating to address social, environmental and economic development issues locally through strategic interventions and programmes.
Human Rights: as signatories to the UNGC, the Bank, through its various strategic business units examine the implementation of labour and human rights practices across the Bank. We work with our vendors/suppliers/customers to uphold labour laws and protect human rights in all their operations. This has helped in reducing the risk of our customers, suppliers or vendors being involved in any social or environmental malpractices.
Labour Practices: we understand that as an organization we must strive to build a work environment that creates opportunities for all – one that does not segregate or discriminate on the basis of gender, cultural background, religion or age. This drives us to create policies and strategies that ensure our workforce is truly inclusive and diverse, attracting the right people from all works of life and providing an environment that enables growth for everyone. We have a zero tolerance for discrimination on the basis of gender, age, race, religion, country of origin, and disability in our recruitment policy.
Environment: the Bank continues to make concerted efforts towards reducing its gas emissions including – reducing our diesel consumption by complementing our power supply with solar power at our head offices and other branches. We have targeted efforts aimed at improving our resource efficiency including – water efficient cisterns at our offices to reduce our water consumption, reducing our paper use through automated processes, and promoting waste recycling to our employees. We reduced business travels to reduce our carbon emissions by embracing virtual meetings as opposed to in-person ones. We also continue to review our credit for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues in line with our ESG policy.
Anti-Corruption: we continued to uphold best practice of conduct and compliance in the execution of our business – standing against all forms of corruption within our business and the businesses we finance and promoting ethical, just and responsible business practices in our operations and processes.
The Bank participated in the 77th United Nations General Assembly which took place in New York, USA in September, 2022, promoting international co-operation in the economic, social, cultural, educational, and health fields through strategic side-events and activities including: UNGA Investment Summit, UN Global Compact Private Sector Forum amongst others.
