COVID-19: Airtel donates toll-free lines, bulk SMS in 36 states, FCT

Airtel Nigeria on Friday said it had donated toll-free lines and free bulk SMS in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to support the fight against Corona virus.

The Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya made this known in a statement.

Ogunsanya said that the donation would facilitate faster response to citizens across the states and also help create more awareness about safe practices, personal hygiene and other precautionary measures.

He said that Airtel had been closely monitoring the situation around COVID-19 and was committed to using its resources and technology to help in containing the spread of the dreaded virus.

“We are reaching out to government at all levels and also committed to leveraging our core competence, technical expertise and digital resources in putting a stop to the spread of the virus.

“We believe that Nigeria will surely win the battle against this virus if we all come together to offer our sincere support,” he said.

“Recently we donated mobile phones with a Closed User Group (CUG) to the Port Health Services, an arm of the Federal Ministry of Health to support its effort to track and verify passenger information at the country’s local and international airports.

“We further launched an awareness campaign to sensitise Nigerians on the importance of taking precautionary measures in preventing the spread of corona virus through the use of traditional and social media,” he said.

Ogunsanya said that the company had also recently provided zero-rated visits to the websites of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and changed its network ID on customers’ handsets to read, “Be Safe.”