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Airtel’s Way of Supporting Under-Priviledged Children

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Airtel, telecommunications giant since its advent in Nigeria, June 2010, has left no one in doubt about its vision “to be the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians”
 
Unwavering in its commitment to connect with the Nigerian people, not only does it provide innovative products at affordable rates, but also offered good deeds through Social interventions.

The Telecoms service provider promised novel and world class services, and one more thing: to contribute significantly to the alleviation of the challenges faced by the privileged.

So, when in February 2011, it announced its Adopt-A-School initiative with the adoption of Oremeji Primary School 2 in, Ajegunle, Lagos State, the message became even clearer.

Since then, Airtel has gone on to  Adopt three more government-owned public primary schools; St. John’s Primary School Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State; Community Primary School, Amumara, Imo State  and Presbyterian Primary School, EdibaAbi,  Cross River States.

Today, Airtel has gone beyond merely adopting primary schools, provision of infrastructure, uniforms, learning materials for the pupils and training of their teachers.

It has gone one step ahead to contribute holistically to the wellbeing of the pupils of their adopted schools, hence, the introduction of the free Health checks in these schools.

Recently, Airtel organized free eye screening exercise in three of its adopted schools; St. John’s Primary School Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State; Community Primary School, Amumara, Imo State, and Presbyterian Primary School, EdibaAbi, Cross River State.

Speaking about the eye screening exercise which was flagged off on Monday, March 17th in Community Primary School, Amumara, Imo State, Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer and managing director of Airtel Nigeria, said the exercise is essential considering the important of a healthy vision, noting that “one of the priorities of VISION 2020 program is controlling blindness in children which means that we have to invest in eye care.

“This is something Airtel is proud to be involved in across our adopted schools, particularly because the children involved are from less privileged homes.”

The exercise in the Adopted schools, which was borne out of the company’s desire to help in building a stronger, healthier generation of achievers as reiterated in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and VISION 2020 the global right to sight, was an interesting affair.

From the children who couldn’t wait to be screened, extremely intrigued by the impressive array of equipment the Doctors displayed and how they worked, to the ones who feigned poor sight the moment they realized the doctors were giving out free glasses to the ones that required them. The excitement was infectious!

In Community Primary School Amumara, Mrs. Stella Onyeonuziri, parent of Michael Onyeonuziri, a Primary Six pupil that was screened enthused that “what Airtel is doing is very good and I am very proud that my child is a pupil of the ‘Airtel school”. I ask God to continue to Bless Airtel because of how they care for our children.”

After undergoing her screening, Alhaja Mistura Balogun, education secretary Ijebu North, Ogun State commended Airtel Nigeria for touching the lives of the pupils and Teachers in the Local Government, saying other Telcos should emulate them.

The eye screening programme was implemented by a team of Ophthalmologists from Ultimate Eye Clinic, a renowned eye care provider to major Health Management Organizations in Nigeria.

The Clinic provided glasses and eye treatment to pupils and teachers on a need-to-have basis without any financial implications for the beneficiaries.

The exercise which was concluded on Wednesday 2nd of April, after a two-day screening at St. John’s Primary School, Ogun State had a total of 1,165 pupils, 83 Teachers and 98 community people screened.

144 free eye glasses were given to pupils, Teachers, community and some members of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) in the respective states.

Nigeria currently has over four million people suffering from eye problems 80% of which are from avoidable causes.

Of this figure which was obtained from the Federal Ministry of Health in 2011, one million are blind while three million are visually impaired. 50% of avoidable blindness was attributed to cataract, followed by glaucoma 16%, corneal opacity 12%, trachoma 4%, optic Atrophy 3% and refractive error being the major cause of visual impairment. It is feared that about 50% of children who become blind before age five may not leave to see their sixth birthday.

It will be recalled that in March 2012,Airtel in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)  and doctors from The Roding Medical Center, Victoria Island, Lagos to conduct a Health Awareness Campaign in Oremeji Primary School, Ajegunle, Lagos.The Health Awareness Campaign involved a general health check on the teachers and students of the school, including eye screening, cardiovascular, height and weight checks according to the National Centre for Health Statistics and a deworming exercise for the pupils as prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO). Over 400 pupils, teachers and parents of OremejiPrimary School, Ajegunle, benefitted from the exercise.

“For us at Airtel Nigeria, we perceive ourselves as more than just a connection. So, we seek ways to touch the lives of our customers, and even those who are not, because that is how we procure and maintain our social license to operate.

“Life is more than making or receiving calls, and even so, people must feel good about our organization to be able to give us their custom. Hence our involvement in giving back to the people in the communities we operate,” said Emeka Oparah, vice president, Corporate Communications & CSR.

 


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Telcos Resume SIM Card Sales after 2-Week Halt

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Telecommunications operators have resumed full SIM swap and related services following a four-week nationwide outage linked to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)’s migration to a new verification platform.

Telcos Resume SIM Card Sales after 2-Week Halt

The outage rendered millions of subscribers unable to perform SIM-related tasks such as swaps, replacements, and activations.

Operators in the industry say the disruption began on June 26, 2025 when telcos temporarily halted SIM registrations and swaps due to unforeseen technical challenges during the transition to NIMC’s upgraded identity verification system.

The migration was mandated to enhance the integrity and efficiency of national identity management but caused major service interruptions across all Nigerian networks.

However, July 21, both MTN and Airtel confirmed via their social media handles that SIM swap services have now fully resumed.

MTN announced: “SIM swaps have now resumed. We can confirm that NIMC services are fully operational and appreciate their support in the migration to a new platform for NIN verification services for the telecommunications industry.

In a public update issued via its MTN Nigeria Support handle on X (formerly Twitter), MTN confirmed that SIM swaps have now resumed.

Telecom operators complained that the portal was unreliable or inaccessible, which resulted in the suspension of SIM swaps, number porting, and new SIM registrations, even though NIMC maintained that the platform was operating as intended.

Unexpected technical difficulties arose during the switch to the new platform, according to the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria.

Real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and network migration was impacted by these issues.

“Unexpected technical difficulties have surfaced, impacting real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and porting, following a recent directive from the National Identity Management Commission mandating Mobile Network Operators to transit to a new identity verification platform,” ALTON stated in a previous joint statement signed by Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, and Damian Udeh, publicity secretary.

 


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Nigeria, Others Achieve 84% Adult Mobile Phones Penetration

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The World Bank has affirmed that 84 per cent of adults in low-and middle-income economies, including Nigeria, own personal mobile phones.

The bank in its Global Findex 2025 report said mobile phone ownership was widespread and nearly everywhere. It said data from the Global Findex 2025 Digital Connectivity Tracker, revealed that “86 per cent of adults worldwide, and 84 per cent of adults in low- and middle-income economies, own personal mobile phones.”

The report pointed out that mobile phones and the internet had become widespread and essential to daily life in every economy around the world.

A earlier overview had indicated that Nigeria had a high mobile phone penetration rate, with estimates around 85 per cent to 87 per cent in 2024.

This translates to over 200 million mobile connections, making Nigeria a leading market in Africa for mobile phone ownership and usage. While the overall penetration is high, there’s a growing trend towards smartphone adoption, with forecasts predicting over 140 million smartphone users by 2025.

According to DataReporter, a total of 150 million cellular mobile connections were active in Nigeria in early 2025, with this figure equivalent to 64.0 per cent of the total population.

However, note that some of these connections may only include services such as voice and SMS, and some may not include access to the internet.

There were 107 million individuals using the internet in Nigeria at the start of 2025, when online penetration stood at 45.4 percent. Nigeria was home to 38.7 million social media user identities in January 2025, equating to 16.4 percent of the total population.

These headline stats offer a great overview of the “state of digital” in Nigeria at the start of 2025, but in order to make sense of how digital trends and behaviours have been evolving over time, we need to dig deeper into the data.

According to the World Bank, “as of 2024, individual ownership of mobile phones reached 86 per cent of adults worldwide.

“For many people, barely an hour goes by without their using a mobile device to make a call, ext a friend, read the news, access business information, post a meme on social media, pay for something, play a game, engage with a colleague or a customer, or search for information.

“As access to and use of digitally connected technologies increase, people, businesses, and governments place an increasingly high priority on online interactions. “Digitally connected technologies have clear, well-documented benefits.”

It further highlighted that access to mobile phones and the internet was associated with reduced poverty, increased consumption, and more employment for individuals in lowand middle-income economies.

“Women also experience these benefits, as internet access enables access to flexible jobs3 and has been shown to increase female labor force participation. “Mobile phones also facilitate information sharing.

For instance, in agricultural contexts, farmers’ access to real-time prices and buyer demand data can inform their decisions on where to sell, enhancing market efficiency and reducing the distances they would otherwise travel to get the best return for their product and time.

“Internet access also helps create jobs and aids individuals and countries in exporting goods and services,” it added. The World Bank further noted that owning a mobile phone furthermore enabled financial access through mobile money and other mobile financial services.

It added that these financial accounts and services, typically offered by mobile network operators or fintech firms and accessed via networks of local agents, were associated with lower rates of poverty, increased consumption and savings,and greater resilience to economic shocks.


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Sophos Secures Leadership Spot in 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection

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Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced that it has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP), marking the 16th consecutive time the company has received this recognition.

Sophos has been recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) since the inaugural publication for this category in 2007.

Sophos’ market-leading endpoint security solutions include Sophos Endpoint powered by Intercept X, Sophos Extended Detection and Response (EDR/XDR), and Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR).

Over 300,000 organizations trust Sophos endpoint security solutions to defend against cyberthreats, including advanced remote ransomware attacks and active adversaries.

Unique to Sophos, the solution includes adaptive defenses that automatically disrupt attackers by dynamically adjusting protection levels based on threat context.

“Sophos’ strength lies in its prevention-first strategy, designed to stop breaches before they start, adapt defenses in real time, and strengthen detection and response when it matters most,” said Kyle Falkenhagen, SVP, Product Management, Sophos. “We believe that receiving this recognition in the highly competitive endpoint security market for 16 consecutive reports reflects our relentless focus on developing innovative solutions that stay ahead of the global threat landscape and the adversaries we face every day.”

Sophos and Secureworks: The future of protection, detection, and response

Following Sophos’ acquisition of Secureworks in February 2025, combining two leading and complementary portfolios to offer a comprehensive suite of solutions for small, midmarket and enterprise organizations.

Secureworks Taegis XDR customers can use Sophos Endpoint to elevate their cyber defenses, at no additional charge, delivering both improved protection and return on investment.

The integration of Secureworks also adds a new Counter Threat Unit (CTU) to the Sophos X-Ops advanced threat response joint task force, further expanding the rich threat intelligence that informs all customers’ defenses.

Backed by Sophos’ advanced security technologies and a broad network of intelligence contacts and partners, the CTU plays a critical role in identifying and tracking threat actors and analyzing anomalous activity, uncovering new attack techniques, threats, and major shifts in the threat landscape.


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