Female banker to run marathon for Nigeria

The marathon event will take place in London on August 5, 2012. This was made known to newsmen in Lagos during a reception held at Diamond Bank Plc’s corporate Head Office, where Esther Obiekwe presented her nomination certificate to the board and management of the bank shortly before her departure for London. The athlete also […]

The marathon event will take place in London on August 5, 2012.

This was made known to newsmen in Lagos during a reception held at Diamond Bank Plc’s corporate Head Office, where Esther Obiekwe presented her nomination certificate to the board and management of the bank shortly before her departure for London.

The athlete also received a return ticket to London sponsored by the bank. Miss Obiekwe who works in the bank’s Corporate Banking division stated:

“Although I am not a full time athlete due to my work schedule as a banker, I have participated in some of the world’s top marathons including Athens, Berlin, Boston, Dubai and now the Olympic Games. Out of these, only the Boston and the Olympics require one to run a competitive time in a previous marathon to qualify. I qualified for both and have been selected to represent Nigeria in the Olympics. This means I will run the marathon on August 5 in London as a part of the Nigeria Olympic team. I was nominated by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and I see this act alone as a winner for me and for us.”

Speaking at the reception, Uzoma Dozie, Executive Director, Diamond Bank, expressed the bank’s support for the athlete and sports ambassador.

In his words, “We believe this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase not only the people of Diamond Bank and our brand, but also the Nigerian people as a whole. Esther portrays the ‘best people’ element of our vision as a bank, exhibiting resilience, determination and originality which are core qualities of the average Nigerian”.

Diamond Bank announced it would be sponsoring Esther’s training kits as well as her travel expenses to London. Dozie further confirmed the bank’s support for the marathoner:

“We are behind Esther every step of the race. We want to celebrate her because she demonstrates the new spirit at Diamond Bank. She’s indeed an ambassador whom everyone will love to emulate”.

“At Diamond Bank, we always strive to live up to our vision to be a leading financial institution, with the best people, providing unequalled customer experience and delivering superior shareholder value,” Mr. Dozie added.