By Dipo Olowookere
The annual Christmas programme organised by Airtel Nigeria, Airtel 5 Days of Love, will feed 5000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across five different camps.
This was confirmed by the Managing Director/CEO of Airtel Nigeria, Mr Surendran Chemmenkotil, during a virtual press conference held on Wednesday, December 8, 2021.
He informed newsmen that this year’s edition was symbolic as it coincides with the company’s 20th anniversary in Nigeria, which he described as a landmark achievement and glowing testimony to the company’s commitment to the government and people of Nigeria.
It was stated that the initiative to distribute 1,000 palliative packs to five select IDP camps in five of the 36 states of the federation over a period of five days will kick off on Monday, December 13, in Ugha IDP Camp, Benue State.
The next stop will be in Kasaisa IDP Camp in Damaturu, Yobe State on Tuesday and on Wednesday, the train will arrive at the IDP camp in Ekiti State before moving to Anka in Zamfara Stare on Thursday and stop at the IDP Camp in Ekende, Ogoja, Cross Rivers State on Friday, December 17.
“Against the backdrop of our 20th anniversary and 20 years of GSM operations in Nigeria, I must express my profound appreciation to all the stakeholders in Nigeria’s telecom’s ecosystem.
“Airtel appreciates you all and most importantly, we value all our customers, especially those that have been with us since 2001,” Mr Chemmenkotil added.
The Airtel CEO stated further that 2021 has been an interesting year and as the year winds down, it will be good for well-meaning individuals and corporate organizations to express love and appreciation to their stakeholders especially the less privileged.
“It is that time of the year when we all count our blessings, appreciate our friends, help and uplift the less privileged and generally show love to one another and everybody.
“Aside the special token we are extending to our fellow Nigerians in these five IDP centres, we would like to seize this opportunity to wish all Nigerians a merry and safe Christmas and prosperous New Year,” he said.
The Airtel 5 Days of Love programme, which is in its 7th edition, is designed to identify with less privileged persons as well as support the downtrodden in communities where Airtel operates.
Through the programme, Airtel says it is uplifting the less privileged and providing support for the vulnerable as this aligns with its overall CSR theme of touching lives and improving the standard of living of the less privileged.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Adedapo Adesanya