Etisalat Nigeria has been described as an authentic and responsible Nigerian brand with an international pedigree. The Lagos State Head of Service, Prince Adesegun Ogunlewe made this assertion at the South-western edition of the annual Etisalat scholarship Awards ceremony held on Friday December 3, 2010 in Lagos.

According to Ogunlewe, “Etisalat Nigeria deserves hearty congratulations on its ability to stand tall in the comity of GSM operators in the country notwithstanding its late entry. Given its standard of operations, the reliability of its telecommunication services, indeed its multi-sectoral Corporate Social Responsibility approach, I wish to confirm with all sense of responsibility that Etisalat Nigeria is an authentic and responsible Nigerian brand with an international pedigree.”

Etisalat Merit Awards Scheme is designed to encourage excellent performance and reward outstanding in their various courses of study. It is awarded to students with the highest CGPA in Electrical Electronics Engineering, Computer Science and Management Sciences. Over 450 students have benefited from the award since inception in 2009.

While presenting the scholarship to the beneficiaries, Etisalat CEO, Steven Evans said that the Merit Award, which is a major part of the company’s corporate social responsibility agenda, is a demonstration of Etisalat’s commitment to educational development and promotion of excellence among the youth in the country. According to him, “We cannot over-emphasize how important a vibrant educational sector is because therein lies the key to improvement in the quality of manpower, the source of world class entrepreneurs, the foundation of wealth creation and the means to strengthen the Nigerian economy. Etisalat is proudly a long term partner on this journey and we strongly believe that through continuous partnership between public and private sectors, we can raise and maintain the standard of education in Nigeria.”

The CEO enjoined the students to use the opportunity of the award judiciously as it creates the platform for them to advance their knowledge. He noted that beyond the merit award, Etisalat is also willing to partner with the other state governments in educational development along similar lines as it does with the Lagos State government’s Save Our Schools initiative.

The recipients of the awards, who were led by representatives from their schools, were full of appreciation to Etisalat for their kind gesture while calling on other corporate organizations to emulate the telecommunications company’s noble cause. The benefitting schools in the south west include University of Ibadan, University of Ado-Ekiti, Lagos State University, University of Lagos, University of Benin, Obafemi Awolowo University and Federal University of Technology, Akure.

In addition to embarking on various projects in partnership with government and other stakeholders in delivering its CSR promises, Etisalat has been championing and extending the frontier of CSR initiatives in the country with the establishment of the Etisalat CSR Centre at the Lagos Business School’s Pan-African University to advance CSR conception and delivery in Nigeria in an intellectual and practical way.

Etisalat’s partnership with the Lagos State government via its Adopt a School Initiative (ASI) includes provision of all forms of support to secondary and primary schools. Three schools; Akande Dahunsi Memorial Secondary School in Ikoyi, Edward Blyden Primary School in Okesuna, Lagos Island which was totally re-built; and Rabiatu Thompson Primary School in Surulere have so far benefited in the provision of upgraded infrastructure with a plan to continually provide support in areas including infrastructure, leadership/management and direct support for students and teachers’ development.

The company’s continuing support for educational projects translates to the development of the sector in an enduring manner. In addition to education, Etisalat recently announced a “Fight Malaria Initiative” to further drive its CSR agenda using health as a platform.

Etisalat CSR thrives on three tripods of Education, Health and the Environment. The company is the only GSM service provider to have adopted a new environment-friendly SIM pack which reduces the size of the classic SIM card from 16g to 8g thereby reducing carbon footprint and enhancing a sustainable environment.

About Etisalat

Etisalat is the largest provider of telecommunications services in Africa and the Middle East and serves an ever increasing subscriber base of 100 million people across Africa, Middle East and Asia. The innovative GSM provider currently has unique products such as Easy Starter, Easy Cliq, Easy Net, Elite World and Easylife in the Nigerian market. All of these offer a wide array of creative and exciting features designed to satisfy all communications needs of its subscribers.