Ecobank Ghana has extended support to Jandel Limited to launch the first edition of its street-lighting/decoration exercise, as part of activities to mark the holy month of Ramadan.
The street-lighting exercise, also known as “Fanous” Ramadan, saw the Nima Roundabout – a suburb of Accra – decorated to mark the end of Ramadan. It was dubbed ‘Light up the city 2023’.
Johnson Oware, Head of Corporate Banking at Ecobank, indicated that Fanous symbolises joy and is also a tradition in the month of Ramadan in Egypt and the larger Arab world, and has gradually become very common and observed in Muslim communities in most parts of the world.
“Realising that our immediate stakeholders – i.e. our customers and our employees – are largely both Christians and Muslims, we have found it necessary to adopt Fanous Ramada as an annual ritual,” he noted.
Mr. Oware also revealed that the event is simultaneously held at Tamale in the Northern Region.
He therefore entreated Muslims and residents in the areas which have been decorated to take good care of decorations.
Afi Amoro, Chief Executive Officer of Jandel Limited, and also the pioneer of the Light up the city 2023 initiative, indicated one of the reasons this initiative was developed was to bring a balance between the Islamic celebration and that of Christians.
“Since the practice of lighting up the city is always done during Christmas holidays, we thought it would be fair to do the same for Muslims during their festive seasons.” She said
Ms. Amoro is hopeful that the initiative will not only bring joy but also help boost tourism and drive a lot of economic activities in the decorated areas.
She took the opportunity to thank Ecobank Ghana for supporting the initiative, as well as the Greater Accra Regional Minister and Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council for their support.
She added that there are plans in place to extend the initiative to other Muslim communities over the coming years.
The Zongo Chief of Nima, Luis Seidu, thanked Ecobank and Jandel Ltd. for remembering Muslims in their activities, and also pleaded that it should be made a yearly tradition.
He further added that the Ayawaso municipality faces a lot of challenges as a community, calling on well-meaning organisations and individuals to help develop the area.
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