Airtel Nigeria, a leading telecommunications services provider, says it targets feeding 5,000 Internally Displaced Persons across five camps in the country.
According to it, this is part of its activities to herald the Airtel 2020 Edition of “5 Days of Love” Yuletide initiative.
Segun Ogunsanya, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, made the disclosure at a virtual media briefing on Thursday.
Ogusanya told newsmen via Zoom that the focus of the initiative was to provide palliative packs to 5,000 persons across five Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the country.
According to him, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 being a generally difficult year, Airtel will continue its long standing tradition of celebrating and empowering the vulnerable and underprivileged during the festive season.
“What Airtel is doing will not change the world but it will touch lives and will have a multiplier effect.
“Our resolve to Nigeria and Nigerians is unshakeable, despite a difficult year, we are committed to making lives better for many Nigerians.
“’We will not rest on our oars as we will continue to create opportunities for underprivileged Nigerians.
“We believe little things can make a difference and as we continue to support the vulnerable and the underprivileged in our society, events will take a positive turn.
“At Airtel, we believe that to be great, we must first be good. ‘It is in this spirit that we have chosen to celebrate this Yuletide with underprivileged and underserved persons across the country,” he said.
According to him, the programme, currently in its sixth year, the 2020 edition of the ‘5 Days of Love’ Initiative will start in Benue on Friday, December 18, 2020 at the Daudu IDP camp.
It will move to Edo on Tuesday, December 22, 2020 at the International Christian Centre, Benin City and on Wednesday to Borno at the Teachers Village.
On the same day, it will also be hosted in Kaduna State at the Sabin Tasha Camp.
Ogusanya said that Airtel would on Thursday December 24, 2020, a day to Christmas, conclude the distribution at the Abbari YBC Camp in Yobe.
He also assured that Airtel would continue to collaborate and partner government in the ongoing fight against COVID-19, noting that the fight against the dreaded virus was not over yet.
He also highlighted some definitive steps Airtel had taken to curtail the spread of the virus.
“Although I do not like throwing figures, we expended over N1.97 billion providing relief to Nigerians during the lockdown and at the height of the pandemic.
“My colleagues, from their pockets, donated N20 million to provide relief materials for indigent persons during the lockdown.
“We also donated N50 million each to the Lagos State Government and the Ogun State Government in their fight against COVID-19.’’
According to him, the organisation is also currently renovating an Infectious Disease Centre at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and has committed N200m to the project.
“Airtel further committed various sums and support in kind covering donations to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the Federal Ministry of Health and Port Health Authority, State Governments and the Federal Government.
“Airtel also reached out to customers by offering free Short Message Service (SMS) worth over N1.2 billion,’’ the Airtel boss said.
