By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief

The Central bank of Nigeria has taken steps to strengthen its Sustainable Banking Policy with a view to enhancing the preservation of the nation’s natural resources and a more-people –friendly environment.

The Central Bank of Nigeria head office in Abuja.

Planting a tree to mark the World Environment Day, in Abuja, the Governor of CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said that the apex bank would continue to encourage the nation’s Deposit Money Banks in their push towards the conservation of the environment through lending to customers whose activities comply with the principles of pro-environmental sustainable development.

“The CBN is totally committed to ensuring that we preserve our environment and natural resource, not only for the benefits of the present generation but generations yet unborn.  The three planting exercise demonstrates our commitment to preserving our environment and a commitment to the prudent management of our natural resources.

“It shows that whatever we do as a bank, we try as much as possible to protect the environment  , protect human rights and all the activities that are required in ensuring a sustainable banking in the country”, he said.

Mr. Emefiele, added “CBN has developed and adopted the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles, in collaborations with the banks and as a commitment to the implementation of the principles, the governors, aided by top management and staff of the CBN are observing today, by several activities”.

According to him, the apex bank has instituted a Sustainable Banking Award which would be given to the most compliant Deposit Money Banks in August to encourage adherence to Sustainable Banking Principles among operators.

In her remarks, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Sustainable Banking, Dr. Aisha Mahmood, said that the theme of the this year’s Environmental Day- Seven Billions Dreams, One Planet, Consume with Care- was a call to “consume natural resources- water, energy and all that responsibly”.

She added that the CBN was internalizing the principles of sustainable banking and that it had to take into consideration, the social and environmental implications of all activities. Her words, “We lead by example.  We do things and the banks are following.  We are monitoring compliance by the industry operators.

“At the CBN, we are doing a lot of things to promote resource efficiency, energy efficiency.  We thing I can proudly tell you is that we have connected to the national grid.  Before  we were running on generators but now we have connected to the National Grid, so our generators are no longer running 24/7.  Secondly, we are also in terms of energy efficiency, we shut down systems at certain periods rather than leaving the system running 24/7- apart from essential systems.    We are also using energy efficient bulbs.