By Hassan Osman Kargbo

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Foundation has taken the lead in afforestation and other environmental efforts by singing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Auradicals Foundation for a Tree Planting project in the country.

At an impressive event which took place last Friday 20 October 2023, at the UBA-SL headquarters, Charlotte Street, Freetown, Managing Director of United Bank Africa Sierra Leone, Mohamed Alhajie Samoura, referred to the signing ceremony as a milestone event as it marked the first time in the history of UBA Foundation Sierra Leone to partner with the Auradicals Foundation to implement an environmental sustainability plan of action in the country.

Mr Samoura said UBA as a financial institution has an obligation to plant millions of trees across Africa and they are currently driving towards that particular trajectory.

He continued that during their UBA MDs international engagement in Abuja Nigeria, MDs were asked to go back and see how they could work with their local partners in achieving the dream of planting Africa that he said resonates with the vision of the Auradicals Foundation.

He added that UBA-SL will work with Auradicals Foundation to make tree planning a success in the country.

Mr. Samura admonished that the MOU with Auradicals Foundation is not for them to just give flowering speeches and throw the document under the carpet, but rather they must ensures to sustain and invest in the tree planting project as the project falls under UBA’s  Global aspirations.

‘We are not here to make flowering speeches and forget about its implementation by throwing it under the carpet, UBA Foundation will surely try to sustain this project simply because this particular project falls under our Global aspirations project locally and internationally,’. MD Samura emphasized.

The MD disclosed that even though he is a member of the Auradicals Club, but the intent does not arise because of comradeship but rather they are doing it because tree planting is a great project from the Auradicals Foundation.

He mentioned that it is not a secret that Climate Change is damaging the environment and UBA does not want to sit and watch the environment to be destroyed any further that is why he said UBA-SL has taken the lead to support Auradicals in ensuring that environmental issues becomes a thing of the past in Sierra Leone.

He profusely thanked the Auradicals Foundation for the project, noting that the partnership will last for five years whiles UBA-SL looks forward to singing more MOUs with the Auradicals Foundations.

Auradicals Foundation Global Moderator, Ibrahim Sorie Kamara, recalled that before the signing of the MoU with UBA-SL, they had sent a proposal to UBA-SL and later called to defend the proposal which was later approved by the MD of UBA-SL, which he stated is the reason for the singing of the tree planting project.

When people heard about Auradicals and tree planting, they might get confuse because people had known Auradicals for different things in the country, but the entity had changed its narratives and now busy doing things which we  think could benefit the country, Ibrahim Sorie Kamara said.

He furthered that there are lot of Climate Change issues around the world and they want to fight Climate Change in their own little way in the country.

‘There are lot of Climate Change issues around the world. We are now in October and we are still experiencing rains in the country which is a clear manifestation of Climate Change in the country, he added.

He said the public is aware that UBA-SL is a financial institution in a very competitive financial industry, and therefore vowed to sell the UBA brand far and wide.

He said although UBA-SL is giving back to the society, Auradicals Foundation is aware that UBA SL has an ambition to maintain dominance over all other financial institutions in the country. Kamara recapped the foundation determination to make UBA’s official logo visible during the implementation of the tree planning project.

He assured the management and staff of UBA that the financial institution will get much visibility from the Auradicals Foundation during the implementation of the tree planting project.

Head of Marketing UBA-SL, Salieu Sesay underscored the fact that UBA is a financial institution with over 70 years of experience in banking that had and continue to give back to communities where the bank operates, disclosing that is why the bank established its foundation in 2004.

Sesay noted that the UBA Foundation has four key pillars of which one of the pillars talks about improving environmental issues as the Auradicals Foundation tree planting project is targeting over five hundred (500) trees in the country.

‘This is a remarkable event because the two foundations are household names in the country and the partnership will surely promote environmental issues in the country, Ibrahim Sorie Kamara ended.