The Chairman of Bharti Airtel, Sunil Bharti Mittal, has reaffirmed Nigeria’s critical role in Airtel’s African operations, describing the country as the backbone of the telecom giant’s strategy on the continent.
Fielding questions from reporters at the State House, Abuja, after leading a delegation of Airtel Africa and Airtel Nigeria team to meet with President Bola Tinubu, Mittal emphasized the company’s commitment to expanding its investments in the country.
“Nigeria is the most important part of our Africa strategy. In fact, the entire Africa rests on the back of Nigeria for Airtel,” he stated.
Mittal acknowledged the impact of Nigeria’s economic challenges, including currency devaluation, which saw Airtel’s business in the country shrink from nearly 40–45pper cent of its African portfolio to between 20 per cent and 21per cent, expressing optimism about reversing the trend.
“We are hoping, in the next two, two and a half years, to at least come back to that level with more investments and more work here in the country,” he said.
Underscoring the personal significance of Nigeria in Airtel’s global strategy, Mittal noted that apart from India, Nigeria is the only country he directly oversees.
“We have to be very successful in Nigeria to have a real standing in Africa. Nigeria is important to us, personally important to me,” he said.
He further outlined Airtel’s vision to bring Nigeria on par with India in terms of digital innovation, connectivity, and financial inclusion.
“It is our intention to make Nigeria at par with what we are seeing in India in terms of digital innovation, digital connectivity, and financial inclusion,” Mittal stated.
Reaffirming Airtel’s long-term commitment to the country, he assured Nigerians of the company’s role as a responsible corporate citizen.
“I can assure all of you here today that we come here as a force for good for this country, and you will continue to see us being a very, very responsible corporate citizen, contributing to the well-being of this country,” he said.
Mittal also announced the award of scholarship to 10 Nigerian students for full Engineering degrees both at the undergraduate and post graduate levels in top Engineering Institutions.
He revealed that the company expects the Nigerian government to take charge of selecting the 10 students who will be sent to India as part of the fellowship program.
He highlighted the company’s significant investments in Nigeria and its plans for further expansion, including the rollout of 5G services and additional investments of $700 million over the next two years.
Mittal lauded President Tinubu led government on recent economic reforms, which he said will attract more foreign investment and improve business conditions in Nigeria
According to Bharti, the Airtel Africa scholarship program which is under Satya Bharti School Program began 15 years ago has created a large ecosystem of 100,000 school children across various communities in India.
“So we started 15 years back with the primary school program in India, where the focus was girl child, free education, midday meal, computer in the school uniforms, and we created nearly a large ecosystem of over 100,000 school children going into various villages in India. And that program still continues. We have then stepped it up with scholarships in the universities.
“That program of Satya Bharthi Scholar has also started in a big way. And today I can share with you I was very pleased to hand over my letter inviting 10 Nigerian students for a full degree, both undergrad and post grad degrees in engineering in top institutions in India every year.
“And we would expect the Nigerian government to be choosing and selecting those 10 students who sent to India.”
Speaking on Airtel’s commitment to the 3 Million Technical Talent program of the present administration, Mittal said that Airtel aims to support Nigeria in diverting some attention to areas such as Skills and education, while also contributing to the society in a very meaningful way.
“That’s a commitment to be a part of that. And we believe that just like India and many other countries, including in Africa, if we can divert some attention into the area of Skilling and education, I think we’ll contribute To the society in a very meaningful way. “
