Airtel Africa says Nigeria is the sole of its operations in Africa, with the potential to match India’s advancements in digital innovation, connectivity, and financial inclusion.
Chairman of Airtel Africa, Sunil Bharti Mittal, stated this on Thursday after meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the State House, Abuja.
Emphasising that Airtel’s success in Nigeria is crucial to its overall success in Africa, Mittal stressed that Nigeria’s strategic importance underscores Airtel’s objective, which is to drive growth and transformation across the African continent.
“Nigeria is the most important part of our Africa strategy. The entire Africa rests on the back of Nigeria for Airtel.
“And Nigeria is important to us, personally important to me. I watch over one country other than India, personally myself. That is Nigeria. I come back here from time to time, and it’s in our intention to make Nigeria at par with what we are seeing in India in terms of digital innovation, digital connectivity and financial inclusion.
“I can assure all of you here today that we come here with force for good for this country, and you will continue to see us being a very, very responsible corporate citizen contributing to the well-being of this country.”
Scholarship Awards To Nigerians
Airtel Africa CEO also announced the award of scholarships to 10 Nigerian students for full Engineering degrees both at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels in top Engineering Institutions.
Mittal revealed that the company expects the Nigerian government to take charge of selecting the 10 students who will be sent to India as part of the fellowship program.
He highlighted the company’s significant investments in Nigeria and its plans for further expansion, including the rollout of 5G services and additional investments of $700 million over the next two years.
Mittal lauded President Bola Tinubu’s led government on recent economic reforms, which he said will attract more foreign investment and improve business conditions in Nigeria
According to Bharti, the Airtel Africa scholarship program which is under Satya Bharti School Program began 15 years ago has created a large ecosystem of 100,000 schoolchildren across various communities in India.
“So we started 15 years back with the primary school program in India, where the focus was girl child, free education, midday meal, computer in the school uniforms, and we created nearly a large ecosystem of over 100,000 school children going into various villages in India. And that program continues. We have then stepped it up with scholarships in the universities.
“That program of Satya Bharthi scholar has also started in a big way. And today I can share with you I was very pleased to hand over my letter inviting 10 Nigerian students for a full degree, both undergrad and post-grad degrees in engineering in top institutions in India every year.
“And we would expect the Nigerian government to be choosing and selecting those 10 students who were sent to India.”
Speaking on Airtel’s commitment to the 3Million Technical Talent program of the present administration, Mittal said that Airtel aims to support Nigeria in diverting some attention to areas such as Skills and education, while also contributing to society in a very meaningful way.
“That’s a commitment to be a part of that. And we believe that just like India and many other countries, including in Africa if we can divert some attention into the area of Skilling and education, I think we’ll contribute To society in a very meaningful way.”
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