By Nnamdi Ojiego
Telecom giant, Airtel Nigeria has reiterated its committed to providing quality education to poor children, even as it said that education of less privileged children would result in true freedom to earn, choose and live aright.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive of Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Rajan Swaroop, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness, Dr. Ado Bayero in Kano. He said Airtel has concluded plans to construct schools across the country, equip them with furniture, provide uniform for the students and upscale the skills of the teachers.

He equally informed the Emir that the company has decided to commence the education project on a pilot scale similar to Airtel’s model in India where the mobile operator started with one project and later expanded it to 254 schools throughout the country. On completion of the pilot school project near Abuja, according to him, the social investment programme would be extended to other parts of the country.

The CEO also expressed the desire of Airtel to create jobs for Nigerians, which he said, would be created directly and indirectly in the coming weeks. He said plans were underway to increase the number of staff in Airtel call centre from 600 call agents to 1000 with the aim of providing its Nigerians improved customers service.

Speaking further, Swaroop said the new Airtel brand comes with a promise to meet the emerging needs of customers with innovative, affordable and relevant solutions to empower consumers, give them the freedom to do what they choose and provide them with the tools to meet life’s daily challenges.

While assuring the Emir of Airtel’s commitment to taking its network deeper into Nigeria, and in ensuring that its services touch the common man, he noted that the company had already taken relevant steps to crash call tariff across the country with the launch of its 2Good tariff plan.

He said with the plan, customers can now make calls after the first minute of the day at 20 kobo per second. According to him, the new tariff offer from Airtel clearly lives up to the expectations of Nigerians and the challenge of making telecoms services more affordable for consumers, by President Goodluck Jonathan at the launch of the Airtel brand in Abuja.

He however, expressed optimism that in the coming years, Airtel would win the hearts of customers across Nigeria and emerge as one of the most admired brands in the country.