The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Emeka Oparah

  • Airtel wins best company in stakeholder engagement

    Airtel wins best company in stakeholder engagement

    Airtel Nigeria has been awarded the Best Company in Stakeholder Engagement at the Sustainability, Enterprise and Responsibility Awards (SERAS) 2017 for its flagship Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative dubbedAirtel Touching Lives.

    Airtel Touching Lives is an inspiring CSR initiative that offers practical relief, succour, hope, opportunities and credible platforms to liberate and empower the underprivileged, disadvantaged and hard to reach persons in the society. The activities of Airtel Touching Lives are recorded and produced for national television with a view to promoting the spirit of giving, self-sacrifice and love among Nigerians.

    The award came six days after the telco bagged the CSR of the Year Award at the maiden edition of the Nigeria Technology Innovation & Telecom Awards (NTITA).

    Airtel’s Director of Corporate Communications & CSR, Emeka Oparah; HR Director, Gbemiga Owolabi; Head of Public Relations, Erhumu Bayagbon; Head of Customer Experience, Olubunmi Abejirin and CSR Manager, Chioma Okolie, received the awards on behalf of the company.

    Airtel wins
    L-R: Mr. Gbemiga Owolabi, Executive Director, Human Resources, Airtel Nigeria; Ms. Chioma Okolie, CSR Lead, Airtel Nigeria and Mr. Emeka Oparah, Director, Corporate Communications & CSR, Airtel Nigeria with the Best Company in Stakeholder Engagement Award for its Touching Lives initiative at the SERAS CSR Awards 2017 in Lagos.

    Speaking at the ceremony, Oparah said the award is a testament of Airtel’s efforts at connecting with stakeholders in the various communities where it operates, noting that the telco was committed to earning its social license through its corporate philanthropy and sustainability initiatives.

    The SERAS – CSR Awards is an annual project, which aims to promote as well as raise awareness about the roles organizations plays with an emphasis on their responsibility towards stakeholders and the social development of Africa.

    SERA aims to substantiate the case that corporations who are socially responsible stand to gain huge benefits in regards to the triple bottom line – economic, social and environmental capital.

    The 11th edition of the Awards which took place in Lagos on Friday, November 17, 2017 brought together sustainability experts, public relations practitioners, brand owners and public office holders.

  • Airtel honours primary school teachers

    Airtel honours primary school teachers

    Airtel Nigeria has been commended by teachers in its adopted public primary schools located in Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna, Kwara, Cross River and Imo States.

    The teachers who were overwhelmed with joy hailed the telco for its focus on education and for organizing a specialized training as well as award platform to honour Nigerian teachers.

    Airtel, through its Adopt-a-School programme, had announced an audiovisual and ‘train the trainer’ program for all the 152 teachers in its adopted schools, spread across six States.

    Speaking yesterday at the flag-off of the workshop at the Oremeji Primary School II, Ajegunle, Lagos, Head Teacher, Mrs Kudirat Kasali, commended Airtel for organizing a special training for the teachers in commemoration of World Teachers’ Day.

    The practical training session themed “Training the Trainer” was facilitated by Mr Azeez Jamiu Olusola, an Education Consultant.

    Speaking on the place of instructional materials in teaching pupils, Mr. Olusola explained that instructional materials such as printed materials, audio, visual have become imperative for successful delivery of lessons in 21st century.

    One of the teachers of the school who spoke with the media after the training, Mr Chinedum Okafor, said the training was much needed to enhance their capacity in the classroom. He stated that the training which was on Instructional Material will guide him in delivering his job.

    Another teacher, Mrs. Obi Eunice, extolled Airtel for organizing the training. She said the training will enable them to have more impact on the pupils.

    After the training, the Head Teacher received ‘Airtel Outstanding Contribution to Education’ Award for her dedication and hard work towards the development of the school.

    Some of the teachers of the school: Mr. Bakare Ibrahim Aremu, Mr. Fasasi Adebayo, Mrs. Obi Eunice Chinazo and Mrs. Morogbonwon Bukola Iyabo were also rewarded for their excellent performance with Airtel Solo Aspire smartphones.

    In his opening remarks, Mr. Emeka Oparah, Director, Corporate Communications & CSR, Airtel Nigeria, reaffirmed the telecom giant’s commitment to quality primary education, which according to him, is “a very critical component to building national development and the foundation for a brighter future.”

    Airtel’s Adopt-a-School programme is a robust initiative that offers underprivileged children access to quality education in a conducive environment, also providing them with all the materials for learning and study. As part of the programme, Airtel also trains teachers of its adopted schools to ensure that high teaching quality is always maintained.

     

  • knowledge, creativity vital to make money online – Otufodunrin

    knowledge, creativity vital to make money online – Otufodunrin

    The Editor Online and Special Publications at The Nation Newspapers, Lekan Otufodunrin on Friday stated that knowledge and creativity are prerequisites to making money online.
    Otufodunrin stated this at the inaugural webinar of TheNewsGuru.com themed “Digital Media Gurus Speak: How to monetise online media opportunities online.”
    To make money online, he emphasized the need for people to apply knowledge and be creative.
    Otufodunrin reiterated that despite the fact that the new media was here to stay, it however does not pose a threat to the existence of the print and broadcast media. He said rather, they complement each other to serve the readers better.
    “The online media is here to stay and does not pose any threat to the existence of the traditional media. Rather, both arms of the media should be coordinated to serve the reading public better. Knowledge and creativity is key to making money online.
    “You must be willing to go the extra mile to get investors’ attention. A reporter must add human interest angles to a story that broke yesterday to appeal to people to buy the papers today. People mistake the internet as a cheap source of making money. While I won’t say it is not, however, some degrees of hard and smart work are needed to succeed,” the veteran journalist said.
    Also speaking at the event, the Vice President Corporate Communications/CSR Director Airtel Nigeria and founder of Ethelberts, Mr. Emeka Oparah said brands across the world are always willing to invest and partner with credible, industrious and libel free media.
    He noted that despite the array of opportunities freely available online, not many are able to tap into it because they lack the basic knowledge to do so.
    The Airtel boss noted that most brands look out for what they stand to benefit either on a short or long run before making any investment.
    “Brands look out for credible, libel free media to partner with. You must be creative and industrious to get business engagements with these brands. No business operator will place advert or do other forms of business with a medium that is enmeshed in controversies. To be specific, you must dig deep into the activities of Airtel before you get an advert or partnership with us.
    “You shouldn’t just think by using our press releases or coverage of the launch of a particular product, you automatically qualify for business partnerships with us. You must be willing to go the extra mile and this applies to making money online or offline too,” Opara explained.
    Also speaking at the event, the publisher of CKN News and President, Guild of Professional Bloggers, Chris Nwadu said most people have the erroneous impression that they can make money instantly online by just posting anything on any of the social media platforms.
    “The online platform is not an end to making money. It only provides a leverage to flourish especially for those who are willing to tap into such leverages. For me, I made my first money online two years after establishing CKN News. And that was just N5000. This was after two consecutive years of hard work in the online space,” the CKN publisher
    said.
    Asked what the Guild of Professional Bloggers which he currently presides over is doing to curtail the excesses of fake and unverified news flying around mostly from bloggers, Nwadu said the Guild had inaugurated an Ethics committee to monitor news contents from blogging sites. He noted further that despite conscious efforts put in place by the Guild, the task of enforcing strict adherence was an issue as the number of blogging sites are well over a million.
    “One of the first things we did on assumption of office was to inaugurate an ethics committee to monitor contents and strict adherence to ethical standards. Moreover, most bloggers don’t have any journalistic background and the social media has a way of regulating itself. People will automatically stop visiting a site that dishes out fake and unverified news all the time and with time such sites will shut down permanently,” Nwandu noted.
    The event which was moderated by the publisher, TheNewsGuru.com, Mr. Mideno Bayagbon also had in attendance the Group Managing Editor, TheNewsGuru.com, Mr. Jewel Dafinone, online editors of TheGuardian Newspapers, Mr. Tonye Bakare; NewTelegraph, Mr. Michael Abimbola, The Sun, Ikenna Emewu and other seasoned media practitioners.
  • Airtel reaffirms commitment to improve primary education in Nigeria

    Airtel reaffirms commitment to improve primary education in Nigeria

    …To donate books, school bags, educational materials to thousands of students across its Adopted schools

    In line with its commitment to improve the standard of education as well as promote quality learning experience in public primary schools, leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has announced plans to donate thousands of books, school bags and other educational materials to students across its adopted.

    More than 4,200 students in the schools located in Lagos, Ogun, Imo, Cross River, Kwara and Kaduna will benefit from the donations in line with the telco’s CSR initiative known as ‘Adopt-a-School.’

    The company noted that its intervention in the education sector has consistently provided a significant boost as well as created conducive learning environment for students in the schools over the years.

    Director of Corporate Communications & CSR, Airtel Nigeria, Emeka Oparah, commented: “Airtel is committed to creating platforms and opportunities that will truly liberate and empower underprivileged children across the country. Our Adopt-a-School programme provides a robust platform to reach out to these children who are the future of our great country.

    “My colleagues are very excited and they will be going around our adopted schools not just to make these donations but to interact and spend quality time with these kids. This is our way of celebrating the 2017 Children’s day and we urge well- meaning Nigerians and other corporate organisations to join in celebrating and creating opportunities for underprivileged children,” he added.

    Airtel’s adopted schools across the country include Oremeji Primary School, Ajegunle, Lagos; St. John’s Primary School, Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State; Community Primary School, Amumara, Imo State; Iyeru-Okin Primary School, Offa, Kwara State and Presbyterian Primary School, Ediba, Cross River State.

    According to Airtel, the donation exercise will hold in the adopted schools over a period of 5 days, from Monday, 22nd May 2017 to Friday, 26 May 2017.

    Representatives from the State universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), community leaders and other stakeholders in the state are expected to witness the exercise.

    Airtel Nigeria’s support to the various schools, over the years, has yielded significant results such as encouraging enrollment of more students in the schools, reduction of truancy, improving the academic performance of students and enhancing the capacity of the academic staff.