CITIZENS COMPASS —Ecobank Nigeria is offering special loan packages for parents and guardians to enable them pay school fees for their children and wards ahead of resumption for the 2023/2024 school year. In another master stroke, the bank is making special infrastructure loans available to educational institutions. This, according to the bank, will equip them adequately for the new session. The bank also said it has optimised its digital platforms to make them convenient for school fees and other education-related payments.
Announcing the various ‘back to school’ initiatives of the bank in Lagos, Head, Consumer Banking, Korede Demola-Adeniyi, said it is in line with the bank’s overall strategy to support the development of the nation’s education sector, adding that Ecobank’s digital offerings are targeted at reducing the financial burden on parents, students and schools, and also facilitating the ease of payment of fees without hassles. She listed the digital offerings to include Ecobank Mobile App, EcobankPay and Ecobank Online for contactless fees payment; personal loans and salary advance packages at competitive interest rates, international transfers for offshore school fees payment and affordable remittance offerings. She also noted that families abroad who wish to send money home to help with fees can do so at zero charges on the Rapidtransfer app.
The bank has also provided the Banking-for-School pack for educational institutions to access working capital and loans. The features of this pack include easy fee collections, zero charges on collection accounts with EcobankPay, secure online banking with Omni Lite and cards for easy payments. Speaking specifically on the loans available for the educational institutions, she noted that they could be accessed without bottlenecks as the bank has taken into cognisance the country’s current economic realities.
According to her, “As a bank that is passionate about education, we are prioritizing the pedagogical needs of our customers at this period when schools resume. Children deserve to go to school and we are making it easy for parents to provide them this basic right.” Mrs. Demola-Adeniyi urged schools to appoint the bank as their preferred financial institution for payments and collections, noting that Ecobank has demonstrated pedigree and expertise in fees collection, locally and internationally. She encouraged schools and individuals that are yet to open Ecobank accounts to do so in order to access the offers available.
