THE United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Airtel have entered into a partnership aimed at increasing access to social change related information and provide opportunities for participation whilst pushing forward U-Report, an innovative project supported by UNICEF.

Commenting on the initiative, Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, said the company is committed to empowering Nigerians and is keen on supporting programmes that will enrich the lives of its various stakeholders. 

According to him, the agreement allows UNICEF to tap into Airtel’s mobile services to make health, education, child protection and community-focused content available to Airtel customers across the country noting that through improved connectivity, more Nigerians will have free access to mobile applications and services developed by UNICEF such as U-Report.

Ogunsanya said: “At Airtel Nigeria, we constantly look for opportunities to excite, delight and empower our customers stressing that this innovative partnership with UNICEF offers Nigerians a golden opportunity to transform the country and we are glad to be part of the U-Report project.

“U-Report, an innovative SMS-based platform, empowers Nigerians to participate and engage in policy-making and governance and to access real time information on key social issues, stressing that the platform, which was launched officially in Nigeria on 29 April 2015, has over 400,000 registered users, making Nigeria the leading U-Report platform globally, among 16 other countries that are running the same application.”

UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Jean Gough, said: “UNICEF is committed to providing innovative solutions towards better delivery of services and social change, adding that this partnership with Airtel has the potential to empower millions of Nigerians through access to information and with opportunities to help them transform their societies.”