Dikko: Product Innovation, Solutions Will Enhance Telecoms Growth
Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Ibrahim Dikko, spoke with journalists on Etisalat’s Telecommunications Engineering Programme, and the impact of Etisalat’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. Emma Okonji was
Etisalat was a late entrant in the Nigerian GSM market and clearly, it faces stern competition from already existing players in the industry, yet it has implemented several laudable CSR programmes such as the Engineering degree programme. What inspired the decision to make such long-term investments in the country?
At Etisalat we are driven by a sense of responsibility to create value through sustainable products and services,,ensure fair and ethical standards in dealing with our stakeholders and minimise our environmental impact. We believe that Corporate Social Responsibility represents a complete and wholesome relationship between us and our stakeholders. The Etisalat Telecommunications Engineering Programme in ABU Zaria is a good example of how we try to give back to our community and contribute to the sustenance of the Nigerian telecoms industry. With this Etisalat engineering programme, we are leading a positive revolution in building technical know-how and local content and manpower in Nigeria.
It is the first programme in a Nigerian University offering an M. Sc. in telecommunications engineering in West Africa. In addition, the course comes with an internship with Etisalat Academy in the United Arab Emirate (UAE), where the students gain practical knowledge on the theories they have learnt in the classrooms and laboratories back in ABU Zaria.
As the programme continues, we plan to train about 20 students yearly to give Nigerians an opportunity to learn from the best in the field. We will also continue to develop local expertise and know how to sustain the program by sponsoring lecturers from ABU to study for a Ph.D in televomunications engineering at Plymouth University, UK. What are the strategies driving all these CSR initiatives? Our corporate responsibility agenda is designed to contribute to the well-being of society, while ensuring that the ability of our future stakeholders to meet their needs and aspirations is not compromised.
In carrying out our programmes, we focus on three key platforms – Education, Health and the Environment, through which we are executing a number of innovative, impactful and sustainable initiatives.
We also adopt a top-down and bottom-up strategy, designed to ensure that our impact is felt by Nigerians across the different socioeconomic strata. What informed the three key platforms you outlined? Prior to the formal launch of Etisalat Nigeria in 2008, an in-depth assessment of the Nigerian landscape was done, across different indices by this we tried to understand the current state of national development as driven by private sector interventions through CSR.
Based on the findings, we identified the areas we are best positioned to make a positive difference, and drive sustainable change, using CSR and these are encapsulated in our strategy, and our programs. To what extent are these strategies working? Without trying to sing our praises, I can say our CSR strategy has so far been very successful. We have effectively created an impact in the CSR space in Nigeria, and have received encouragement from many quarters including the most socially responsible telecommunications company in Nigeria and one of the top three companies in CSR in the country as adjudged by Cool Brands Global, and SERA.
Most importantly, Etisalat Nigeria’s CSR strategy and programmes have brought sustained development to the people of Nigeria, and testimonies abound to give credence to this. However we are not resting in anyway because we will continue to refine our strategy and also engage our stakeholders to get their feedback on our initiatives, and build win-win partnerships. What are some of the tangible things Etisalat has done in the area of CSR? In our education platform, we have granted scholarships to over 1,200 undergraduates. We have provided career counseling to more than five thousand secondary school students.
In partnership with British Council, we have trained English language teachers in primary and secondary schools across the different geo-political zones, and have also invested tens of millions of naira in building and refurbishing our adopted schools. Our telecommunications engineering programme is the first of its kind in West Africa. The programme is executed in partnership with Plymouth University UK and the Etisalat Academy UAE as I mentioned earlier. We also partnered our vendor Huawei to support with a donation of laboratory equipment for the programme and so far, about forty students have benefitted from it in various dimensions.
On the health platform, hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have been positively impacted by our interventions by way of the Fight Against Malaria Programme, and Partnership with the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) and the United Nations Programme on AIDS to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. These are some examples of how doing CSR the right way – the Etisalat way, in which supports a healthier Nigeria, and a more educated populace. Your CSR efforts are heavy on health, education and the environment. What actually informed this? We have unique strengths in these three areas. As a telecoms company, we are well placed to use our core competences to drive education, and health. We are also mindful of the impact of our activities on the environment, which is why we ensure that our business operations are environment-friendly.
However our core platform is education, because we recognise the pivotal role that it plays in the growth of any economy. The right kind of education can drive development in the areas of health and environment, thus education is integral to our approach and strategy. Sustainability is important on CSR matters. How sustainable are your CSR initiative? Sustainability is at the heart of our programmes, across all our platforms and notably in the area of education. We believe in teaching to fish, rather than merely giving fish out. Therefore you will be right in your observation that we do not carry out flash in the our initiatives, because our programmes are well thought out, designed to last for the mid-to-long term, and to keep on yielding returns to the target stakeholders. What is your view about CSR development in Nigeria? I think we have made giant strides as a nation in the area of CSR. Barely 10 years ago, CSR was synonymous with philanthropy. It is fair to say that more and more people understand that these are different things. There can be areas of overlap occasionally; however this is the exception and not the norm. There is no necessarily fixed definition of CSR, however as a concept it has certain key ingredients that seek to drive a corporate and socially responsible approach to running a company’s business dealings. This is being practiced by a good number of corporate organisations and indeed CSR has come to stay, it is no longer just a catchphrase.
Financially able Nigerians are even beginning to understand and embrace the next level, the concept of Individual Social Responsibility (ISR).
There is always room for improvement, nevertheless the state of CSR in Nigeria looks promising. What would you like to advise your subscribers? At Etisalat Nigeria, we remain committed to building an excellent, innovative brand that is the network of choice.
, we are achieving across different matrices, including CSR. Through proper implementation of our CSR strategy and interventions, we are empowering Nigerians via multi-stakeholder partnerships and sustainable initiatives. I will want to advise our esteemed subscribers to remain on the Etisalat network and call on other subscribers to come on board to get the feel of Etisalat.