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Zinox, Doing Good with CSR
Zinox, Doing Good with CSRCorporate social responsibility (CSR) is a massive bandwagon; generating both accolades and cynicism.
But when it comes to a local company doing extraordinary things without expectation of recognition, it shows extraordinary determination to push the society a little further on towards the heights of excellence.
And while many organizations and institutions feel deeply frustrated with the government and indeed the country, this company remain convinced that the fundamental structure must be underpinned for generations yet unborn.
It is the story of the exceptional corporate social responsibility initiatives of Zinox Group, the proudly Nigerian IT conglomerate.
It is a story of placing the country first; of sticking with the society through thick and thin; and of giving back to men and women that have helped the company grow.
CSR is an integral part of the Zinox Group’s development policy. It is part of the everyday life of the company.
Its objective is to allow the Group pursue sustainable yet profitable growth while having a positive impact on the society in which it develops.
For instance, the Group donated items worth over N50 million to the Lagos State Government.
These items include ; four units of fully equipped Security Vans, 150 units of Digital Radio, 150 units of Digital Solar lamp and 150 units of solar torch meant to enhance the efficiency and digital comfort of the Police and other security organizations in Lagos State while on duty.
Zinox Group also made the same intervention in Imo State that cuts across security, digital equipment, Information and Communication Technology development for school pupils and training for teachers. It is also spending N50 million in the state.
The company’s CSR which is championed by Leo-Stan Ekeh, the chairman of the group and enthusiastically embraced by the board of directors and staff also targets the younger generation.
The company is to use four schools in Lagos state as Digital Content Centres for its new digital Product – the Zinox Whizkid Ver. 11, which has helped many students to achieve excellent result in GCE, WASCE, JAMB and Post UME nationwide.
Ekeh said Zinox will deploy the equipment and content, train the teachers in its digital laboratory in Gbagada, Lagos and certify them ready to challenge the best teachers in the world.
Zinox has a history of a responsible corporate citizenship in Lagos beginning with the equipping of a digital laboratory at the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu.
It has upgraded and tarred of the Redemption Crescent, Gbagada; aroused competition in mathematics for pupils in Primary 4; donated computers to many schools in Lagos State including Queens College, Yaba, and Archbishop Aggey Memorial Secondary School, Mushin; trained four budding entrepreneurs in the Spirit of the True Nigerian Entrepreneur, SoTNE and settled medical bills of many patients.
In Imo State, the group is a household name where it has touched many lives.
It recently topped it up with an intervention that cuts across security, digital equipment, Information and Communication Technology development for school pupils and training for teachers and worth N50 million.
The donation include four security vans, 150 Jonta flash lights, 150 self-charging digital lanterns, and 150 I-Max radio sets that would help support the security monitoring responsibility of the state.
Ekeh said his group of companies primarily concerned with knowledge development and building a new generation of Nigerians would also donate digital knowledge content encapsulated in the Zinox Whizkid Version 2 to four schools in the state.
This content would make kids from public schools better, while enhancing the overall academic performance of the underserved.
Elsewhere, in support of structured overall social development of Imo state, Zinox released some N10milion a few months ago to the Imo Foundation set up by Governor Rochas Okorocha.
The Group has a tradition of executing major CSR every five years outside its annual commitments in the spirit of Zinox.
The company had built and equipped digital laboratories at the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede; Imo State University; Federal University of Technology, Owerri; and some secondary schools in the state.
There is no geo-political zone in the country that has not been touched by Zinox interventions in tertiary, secondary and primary education since the company’s interest is in capacity building has benefitted scores of Imo indigenes in the form of scholarships at all levels of education, including post graduate education in world class European and American universities.
Zinox CSR is intensely focused on the building of capacities for the growth of a knowledge society and equipping Nigeria to host complex events.
From Katsina to Awka and from Markudi to Ikorodu, Zinox is strategic interventions aimed at building capacities.
It has used CSR as a way to motivate all employees – starting at the lowest level of the organization because as part of its internally-focused initiative, the Zinox Group offer scholarships to the children of all its employees who earn less than N1milion as gross salary per annum.
In simple terms, Zinox is pro-active towards “doing good”.
Union Bank of Nigeria has secured certification under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) version 4.0.1, a global standard for protecting payment card data.
The certification took effect on August 11, 2026, confirming that the bank’s systems for storing, processing and transmitting customers’ credit and debit card information meet stringent international security requirements.
PCI DSS certification is designed to reduce the risk of payment card data breaches and financial fraud while strengthening customer confidence in electronic payment systems.
The assessment covered key areas of Union Bank’s operations, including network infrastructure, card issuance, ATM and POS transactions, payment processing, reconciliation, settlement, chargebacks, dispute resolution and retail banking.
Union Bank was assessed and certified under the Service Provider category.
The certification process lasted a full year and involved quarterly assessments, with support from departmental, business and functional heads across the bank. Digital security firm Digital Encode supported the process, while the final independent audit was conducted by CyberCube, an accredited Qualified Security Assessor.
Yetunde B. Oni, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank, said the certification demonstrates the bank’s commitment to protecting customer information.
“The security of our customers’ information is central to everything we do at Union Bank. This certification reaffirms that our payment systems and processes meet a rigorous global standard, and it reflects the discipline of colleagues across the Bank who work every day to keep customer data safe.”
The renewal also ensures that Union Bank maintains continuous PCI DSS certification, in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s requirement for banks to sustain compliance without interruption.
New data from CFA Society Nigeria is reshaping how the country’s financial sector thinks about talent development, with Access emerging as the single largest source of CFA candidates in Nigeria, distinction industry watchers say signals a deeper shift in how leading institutions are building investment expertise from within.
In its Where Nigeria’s Finance Professionals Work series, published in a national daily, CFA Society Nigeria placed Access first among employers of CFA candidates nationwide, with 82 candidates enrolled in the programme, more than double the 38 recorded at the next-placed institution and well ahead of every other bank or financial services firm on the list.
Access also ranked second among employers of CFA charterholders, with 11 professionals who have completed all three levels of the Programme and met its experience and ethics requirements.
For an industry that has long measured itself by balance sheet size and branch count, the rankings point to a different kind of competition: one over who is building the deepest bench of certified, globally credentialed talent.
CFA Society Nigeria compiled the data from its Salesforce Membership Database as at June 2026, and described the exercise as a way of recognising employers whose people “bring rigour, integrity and global best practices into the workplace every day.”
Analysts following the sector say the outcome is notable less for the ranking itself than for what it suggests about talent strategy across Africa’s financial services industry. A single institution developing more aspiring charterholders than the rest of the market combined raises the floor for professional standards nationally, not just within one balance sheet.
Every candidate who advances through the CFA Programme adds to a shared pool of ethics-trained, analytically rigorous professionals that Nigeria’s capital markets, pension funds and asset managers all eventually draw from.
Access Holdings Group Chief Executive Officer Innocent C. Ike, commenting on the rankings, framed the achievement in terms of institution-building rather than recruitment: “Every candidate on that list represents our commitment to building institutions and professionals that endure.”
The remark echoes a broader thesis increasingly voiced by market observers, that talent depth, not scale alone, is what will determine which African financial institutions earn lasting global credibility.
That distinction sits at the centre of Access’s stated ambition to become the World’s Most Respected African Financial Services Group. If the CFA numbers are any indication, the Group’s route to that goal runs less through square metres of branch network and more through the calibre of the people sitting inside it, a bet that Nigeria’s finance professionals, and the institutions that will one day hire them, are already placing alongside Access.
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has announced plans to introduce Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) baggage tracking technology across domestic and international airport terminals to tackle the growing problem of delayed, misrouted and missing luggages
Michael Achimugu, director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NCAA, disclosed this at a stakeholder engagement forum in Lagos.
Achimugu said the RFID-enabled system would replace the traditional barcode-based baggage tracking framework and provide airlines and passengers with real-time visibility of checked luggage from check-in to final collection.
According to him, the technology would improve baggage traceability, reduce mishandling and strengthen accountability across the baggage-handling chain.
Unlike conventional barcode systems, RFID technology allows baggage to be automatically scanned at multiple points without requiring direct line of sight, enabling real-time tracking of luggage throughout its journey.
Achimugu said issues involving short-landed, missing, lost or damaged baggage had remained among the major complaints from air travellers, alongside flight delays.
He said the introduction of RFID technology was therefore aimed at improving baggage-handling standards and restoring passenger confidence in the aviation sector.
The NCAA said the initiative also aligns with IATA Resolution 753, which requires airlines to track baggage at key points during the passenger journey.
The authority expects the technology to provide more accurate information on the location of luggage, facilitate quicker resolution of baggage-related complaints and improve the overall passenger experience.
The NCAA said the initiative would also strengthen accountability among airlines and other stakeholders involved in baggage handling at Nigerian airports.
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