TheCable

The fourth season of Airtel Touching Lives, a philanthropy programme, premiered in Lagos on Sunday.

The programme is aimed towards bringing relief and succour to the lives of people and giving them the chance to fulfil their dreams.

Speaking at the event, Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer of Airtel, urged corporate organisations to support laudable causes in uplifting underprivileged Nigerians.

From left: Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Sen. Olabiyi Durojaiye; wife of Airtel CEO, Mrs Ronke Ogunsanya; MD/CEO, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya; Minister for Communications Technology, Barr. Adebayo Shittu; House Committee on Communications, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ujani, during the premiere of Airtel Touching Lives Season 4, held at Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos on Sunday, June 3, 2018.

“I want to thank everyone in this room and encourage you again, there is no limit to how kind any of us can be,” he said.

“My parting message is don’t spend your time asking why there are poor people in the world; it’s a waste of time.

“The right question is what we can do to change it? We are always going to have poor and unfortunate people among us.

“What next is what you can do to affect their circumstances and I am encouraging you to do something.

”This is a wake-up call to all of us.

From left: MD/CEO, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya; Minister for Communications Technology, Barr. Adebayo Shittu; Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Communications, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ujani; his wife, Mrs Nonyelem Ujani and the representative of the wife of Lagos State Governor, Mrs Ibironke Kazeem, during the premiere of Airtel Touching Lives Season 4, held at Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos on Sunday, June 3, 2018.

”We should appreciate that even if the primary duty of the government is the welfare of the ordinary man on the street, as well as those who are doing well, the resources of the government is not enough to take care of myriads of problems besetting us a nation.

”I think that the companies doing business in Nigeria who have been benefitting from the enabling environment in Nigeria and the individuals and businessmen who have been benefitting must certainly come to the rescue and multiply what Airtel has been doing.”

Ogunsanya told TheCable that the initiative has recorded huge success since inception and that a lot of people have benefitted from it.

“I don’t know the exact number but a lot of people have benefitted from it,” he said.

“We have learnt over the years that we need a lot more people to support this cause because the requests are getting more and more every year.”

Dolapo Osinbajo, wife of the vice-president, commended Airtel for its commitment to helping the underprivileged.

Osinbajo said she was looking forward to watching the episodes and hearing the stories of those who found help.