- Commits To Fight Against COVID-19
By Kingley I. Ilechukwu
Resilient mobile network operator, Airtel Nigeria, has struck a decade’s threshold and is grateful to Nigeria for affording a relatively peaceful operational environment and its teeming subscribers for their sustained patronage over the course of 10 years.
In a statement from its PR managers, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer(MD/CEO) at Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, expressed profound appreciation to Nigerians for what he described as their “unflinching support for and loyalty to the network.”
Ogunsanya, renown for his predilection for ‘cost optimisation’ also announced that his company, as part of activities marking a decade of doing successful business in Nigeria, would be spending N300m(US$772,141.15) to support the fight against COVID-19, being the final tranche of the N1.9billion the telco’s pledged last April at the early stages of the pandemic.
He explained that N200m would be invested in refurbishing and equipping a 4-storey admission facility for the use of Specialist Units in the Department of Medicine at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi Araba, south west Nigeria; N50m to Lagos State Government to procure Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for Lagos State Health Workers and N50m for the procurement of a Molecular Laboratory to be provided by 54 Gene with the capacity for 300 tests per day for Ogun State, south west, Nigeria.
On behalf of the Board, Management and Staff of Airtel Nigeria, Ogunsanya thanked stakeholders in the telecommunications industry “especially our customers for standing by the company and designating it as the telecoms brand of choice over the years,” while noting that the 10-year milestone would not have been possible without the patronage of its over 50 million sticky customers.
According to him, Airtel had succeeded because Nigerians truly believed in the brand and had come to accept the company as an important stakeholder firmly committed to growing the economy, providing jobs and creating platforms and opportunities to empower more Nigerians both young and old.
The MD/CEO of Airtel Nigeria also commended the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, and the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer(EVC/CEO) of telecommunications secor regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, and other regulators for providing leadership and vision in the industry and hoped that recent policy by government to designate telecommunications facilities Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), which the telecommunications operators had clamoured for over time, would crystalize into a law soon to safeguard telecommunications infrastructure across the country.
Reflecting on the 10-year feat, Ogunsanya said: “Airtel acquired Zain in June 2010 and rebranded as Airtel in November, 2010. Over time, we have remained committed to our singular vision of empowering Nigerians and enriching lives. I am proud of what we have achieved together and, from the bottom of my heart, I thank every stakeholder (employees, customers, investors, partners, media, regulators, governments and others) for making this dream come true.”
He pledged that Airtel would continue to be a force for good in the country, providing excellent communication services while supporting the various communities under its corporate social responsibility (CSR)activities.
