Telecom
Airtel Wins Best Company in Education CSR Award at SERAs 2014
Airtel Nigeria,leading telecoms operator has been adjudged the Best Company in Education CSR by SERAs (Social Enterprise Report Awards) at its 2014 Awards ceremony, in recognition of its laudable CSR initiatives aimed at improving the standard and quality of education in Nigeria
The award presentation to Airtel took place at the 8th edition of SERA which held recently at the Muson Centre, Onikan Lagos.
The SERA awards also known as the Nigeria CSR Awards, is one of Nigeria’s highly acclaimed awards recognized by Industry experts. Other nominees for the awards category include Samsung, Etisalat and Oando.
In a citation by the organizers, Airtel’s Adopt-a-School programme and the Bridge IT project were described as some of the key initiatives of the Telco which have contributed to the development of education in the country.
While receiving the awards, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, managing director and chief executive officer, Airtel Nigeria,said that supporting programmes which cut across critical areas of societal needs such as education, youth empowerment among many other initiatives are in the DNA of Airtel.
He also commended the commitment and sacrifices of all staff of the company which he said had been pivotal to the successes of the company’s CSR efforts, adding that the company would not relent in its drive towards an improved society.
Ogunsanya said: “At Airtel we place strong emphasis on giving back to the society because we know that government alone cannot continue to shoulder the huge responsibilities. For this reason we prioritize our CSR focus on developing education, health, environment and sports as well as empowering youths in Nigeria.
The MD further commended the organizers of the award for identifying the Telco’s CSR efforts which makes the company exemplary.
Through its Adopt-a-School Initiative, Airtel Nigeria has contributed immensely towards improving education within communities in Nigeria. Under the programme, the Telco collaborates with State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB) in various states to provide primary school pupils in under-served communities with educational materials such as note books, uniforms, classroom furniture and borehole for potable water.
As part of this initiative, new blocks of classrooms have also been built to replace dilapidated structures in some schools across Nigeria, while the teachers receive periodic training as part of efforts aimed at improving teaching quality and standards.
The schools which are currently benefitting from this initiative are Oremeji Primary School II, Ajegunle, Lagos; St. John Primary School, Oke-Agbo, Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State; Presbyterian Primary School, Ediba, Cross River and Community Primary School, Amumara, Imo State.
Airtel also recently conducted free eye-screening for teachers and pupils of these schools, and those who required corrective glasses were provided with eye-glasses to improve their sight.
In addition, Airtel in 2011 partnered with Nokia and Pearson to create the Bridge IT project, which empowers teachers across Lagos State to adopt innovative and effective teaching practices through the use of mobile technology and student-focused pedagogy.
A total of 132 primary schools in Lagos have so far benefitted from this project.
The Telco also caters for various primary schools across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria through the Goal-for-Education scheme.
The scheme involves giving the participating teams in the Airtel Rising Stars U-17 grassroot football tournament, aggregated monetary value for the number of goals scored during regular match time.
After the competition, the teams are encouraged to donate the money to schools in their home states.
Mr. Ken Egbas, chief responsibility officer and founder of SERAs Awards, maintains that “the annual ceremony has grown to become the epicenter of the corporate social responsibility industry in Nigeria and recognizes the contributions of socially responsible corporate organizations in Nigeria.”
A Social Enterprise Report – compendium of best practices in CSR and Sustainability was also launched at the event.
Nigeria will criminalize the destruction of broadband fiber cables following repeated complaints by MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and other telecommunications companies that they are losing billions of naira, according to people familiar with the matter.
Federal ministry of works, which supervises federal road constructors, is finalizing the regulation that will be signed as an executive order by President Bola Tinubu, said the people, asking not to be identified as they weren’t authorized to comment.
While there are presently laws against vandalism, the authorities are aiming to regulate construction firms more closely.
The order will enforce stiff penalties on offenders, said the people, declining to provide more details or say when it will be signed.
“Telecom assets are critical backbone that supports the economy across sectors,” said Temitope Ajayi, a senior presidential aide, who noted that the Association of Telecommunications Companies (ATCON) has been demanding the classification for years.
New rules will provide “further assurance that the Nigerian government will protect their investments against vandals and criminal elements.”
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) estimates that the sector will make up more than a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product by the end of 2027, up from 13.5% in the third quarter of last year.
The move will help alleviate pressure on the telecoms sector, which is facing increased operating costs and sales pressures from a sharp depreciation in the currency and a threefold increase in energy prices.
Repairs and revenue losses from damaged cables is estimated to have cost the sector almost 27 billion naira ($23 million) last year alone, documents seen by Bloomberg show.
MTN Nigeria, the biggest wireless operator in Africa’s most-populous nation, and Airtel Africa Plc bore the brunt of the costs, the documents show.
MTN suffered more than 6,000 cuts on its fiber cable last year, the documents show. On Feb. 28, a cut on its network in three different locations by a road construction firm, an oil serving company and someone burning rubbish in a manhole meant customers faced more than five hours of data and voice outages.
The operator relocated 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) of vulnerable fiber cables between 2022 and 2023, at a cost of more than 11 billion naira – enough to build 870 kilometers of new fiber lines to areas without coverage.
A presidential order on the matter would be welcomed, said Tony Izuagbe Emoekpere, president, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria.
“When it comes to communication infrastructure, they are destroyed at will, so we are eagerly awaiting the president’s order,” he said. “It would be a great boost to the industry, and it will also encourage investment.”
Telegram, the messaging giant founded by Pavel Durov and headquartered in Dubai, anticipates hitting a remarkable milestone of one billion active monthly users within the next year.
Durov’s departure from Russia in 2014, prompted by governmental pressures to stifle opposition communities on his VK social media platform, underscores Telegram’s commitment to neutrality despite geopolitical challenges.
With 900 million active users currently, Telegram stands as a beacon of free speech in the digital realm, particularly influential in former Soviet Union republics and pivotal during conflicts like the Russia-Ukraine standoff.
Durov’s staunch advocacy for freedom of expression and opposition to censorship by tech giants like Apple and Google reinforces Telegram’s status as a neutral platform.
Opting for the UAE as its base, Durov cites its neutrality and openness as conducive to Telegram’s ethos, serving both opposition groups and governments alike while maintaining impartiality.
In Durov’s vision, the pursuit of freedom eclipses material gain, shaping Telegram’s trajectory as a bastion of digital liberation.
To further strengthen Nigeria’s digital economy in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have announced a collaboration on National Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to enhance and create synergy between digital identity, payment ecosystem, and secure & seemless data exchange capabilities for Nigeria.
During the meeting between the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, and Director General of NIMC, Engr. Bisoye Coker-Odusote, with some management staff of both organisations, they discussed various initiatives, which include building DPI stacks for a secured and seamless data exchange and forming partnerships to transform the national identity system.
This collaboration also aims to harness the potential of the innovative ecosystem and emphasise the use of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to drive digital transformation in Nigeria.
To ensure a smooth implementation, a 12-man committee was set up. This committee will play a crucial role in kickstarting and harmonising the initiatives. It is expected to deliver a comprehensive implementation report within the next 4 weeks
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