Airtel Nigeria Commits To Sustainable CSR For Underprivileged, Underserved Communities

Airtel Nigeria has reaffirmed its commitment to empowering and uplifting underprivileged persons across communities where it operates as it announced the commencement of the seventh edition of its flagship CSR and sustainability initiative, ‘Airtel Touching Lives’.

Speaking during the press conference held in Lagos, recently, chief executive Officer & managing director, Airtel Nigeria, Surendran Chemmenkotil, noted that, Airtel Touching Lives Initiative is an opportunity for the telco to further connect with the several communities where they serve as well as focus on Airtel Africa sustainability agenda.

Surrendran informed that, last year, 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.”

Furthermore, Airtel Touching Lives takes the format of a reality television show, allowing the public to nominate causes, communities, and underprivileged persons/people with special needs.

Airtel thereafter evaluates and selects the causes to support, and the activities are filmed and broadcasted on terrestrial and satellite television stations with the aim of inspiring other corporate organisations as well as well-meaning individuals to join in supporting the weak across society.