Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has called for deeper collaboration between the government and the private sector in his bid to revamp the state’s education system.
Sanwo-Olu made the call, on Wednesday, when the management of Airtel Nigeria led by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Segun Ogunsanya, paid a courtesy visit to his office at the Lagos House, Ikeja to redeem their promise of donating 1,000 handsets, sim cards and airtime as well as an undisclosed amount of money to the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF).
The governor commended the telecommunication company for redeeming its promise to donate to the state’s security trust fund, saying the gesture would help to reposition and strengthen the security architecture of the state with high level of technology.
Governor Sanwo-Olu said the state government was excited to know that the telecom company had adopted a school in the state and also refurbished so many other facilities as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), adding that the company can do more by adopting more schools in the three senatorial districts.
“We are not in any way abdicating our responsibilities, we have got over a thousand of them. We have to take early vacation for our primary schools because of the high level of training for our teachers.
“Right now as we speak, we are training over 4,000 primary school teachers on an intensive and curriculum review training and learning culture. Once they come back next year, they are not only going to have well refurbished classrooms but teachers well trained and motivated with real skills and tools to work with,” Sanwo-Olu said.
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The governor reminisced that the state government had had a robust relationship and was a shareholder in the company when it was Econet Nigeria before it changed ownership, saying it was an investment that yielded a very good return for the state government at that time.
“We are excited that you are still with us, that we can still call you our friend. And more importantly, you have also demonstrated that you are not just a partner that you are a responsive corporate organisation. You have demonstrated to us that without you being notched that you have been carrying out your Social Corporate Responsibilities as a company on a regular basis.
“On behalf of the 22 million Lagosians who you have actually done this to, I want to thank you, thank you so very much for keeping faith with us,” the governor said.
Earlier, the Airtel boss, Mr Ogunsanya, said they had come to redeem their promise to donate to the LSSTF, adding that the company had been in the forefront of supporting the state government and the residents.
Ogunsanya said available statistics revealed that the company had paid a payee tax of about N1.1 billion to the state government as of November this year, saying they had received a letter of commendation from Lagos Inland Revenue Service as tax complaint firm.
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