Chisom Metu
Leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has been commended by members and leaders of a community in Ogun State, Isokan community, for helping to reconnect the community to the public power grid 15 years after it was disconnected due to equipment failure.
The situation of the Isokan community was brought to the attention of the telco after a member heard about the Airtel Touching Lives initiative and beckoned on the organization to intervene.
The story was featured in an episode of the award-winning television programme, ‘Airtel Touching Lives’, which aired earlier in the year on national TV and showed community members narrating how livelihood had been adversely impacted over the years, throwing homes, families and businesses in distress.
During the moving episode, Airtel pledged to support the community with the sum of N7, 000, 000 (seven million naira) to bankroll the electrification project which had been abandoned due to lack of funds. The telco has since delivered on its promise, restoring power to the community following the erection of 29 utility poles and connection of the high tension and low tension cables to the main power grid transformer.
The people of Isokan showered encomiums on Airtel for restoring their long lost hope and giving hundreds of families a chance at a better life as businesses can now thrive with the prospect of stable electricity in the community.
Commenting on the project, Secretary, Electrification of Isokan Community, Mr. Bamidele Olusegun Moses, said the intervention is life-changing, thanking Airtel for truly touching the lives of those in dire need without the attendant fanfare.
“Airtel Touching Lives has really touched our lives beyond our imagination. It still feels unreal because we had been in this situation for so long and nobody came to our rescue. I just want to thank Airtel for such generosity. This means so much to the people of Isokan. May God bless Airtel always,” he said.
Also commenting on the intervention, the Director, Corporate Communications & CSR, Airtel Nigeria, Emeka Oparah, said Airtel is committed to creating prosperity opportunities for Nigerians and providing platforms that will make lives better for more Nigerians.
“The Airtel Touching Lives initiative has a singular vision of providing relief for communities and individuals who require them. We are excited that life has returned to the Isokan Community and we will not relent in our efforts of reaching out to underprivileged persons and communities across the country,” he said.
Airtel Touching Lives is an inspiring corporate social responsibility initiative that seeks to offer practical relief, succor, hope, opportunities and credible platforms to liberate and empower the underprivileged, disadvantaged and hard-to-reach persons in the society.
