Airtel Nigeria has reaffirmed its commitment to empowering and uplifting underprivileged people across communities where it operates as it announced the commencement of the seventh edition of its flagship Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) and sustainability initiative, ‘Airtel Touching Lives’.
Speaking at a press conference held in Lagos, yesterday, chief executive Officer & managing director, Airtel Nigeria, Surendran Chemmenkotil, noted that, Airtel Touching Lives initiative is an opportunity for the Telco to further connect several communities where it serves as well as focus on Airtel Africa sustainability agenda.
Surrendran noted that, Airtel Africa announced an ambitious sustainability agenda with a strong focus on providing access to digital learning for underprivileged children, working closely with the government to uplift the standard of primary education through the adoption of schools and providing access via financial inclusion to the underbanked and unbanked.
According to him, to implement this agenda, Airtel Nigeria through Season 7 of the Airtel Touching Lives programme, will mostly seek causes and opportunities that speak broadly and primarily to digital and financial inclusion as well as the adoption of schools.
While recounting the successes of the previous season, Surendran noted, “in the last season of the programme, one of the biggest projects we embarked on was the adoption of Government Day Nursery and Primary school in Gombe State under our Adopt-a-School programme, bringing our adopted schools in Nigeria to a total of 7.
“With the adoption of the school in Gombe, we renovated 37 classrooms, renovated two teachers’ offices, renovated, and modernised the toilet facilities in the school, reactivated the borehole facilities with clean pipe borne water and provided furniture for the teachers’ offices as well as educational supplies for the students.”
Other past projects highlighted by the CEO include: the renovation of the Ward A block in Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LUTH); The refurbishment of the Library for Blind people and rehabilitation of an IDP Camp clinic facility in season 5 and provision of an ultra-modern public water system for a large community in Ajah in season 4, among others.
