MTN invests in education, sets up 12 digital libraries

MTN, a mobile network operator, has reiterated its commitment towards the improvement of Nigeria’s educational sector with the establishment of 12 digital libraries in various states across the country. Brett Goschen, chief executive officer, MTN Nigeria, made this disclosure at the recently concluded 21 Days of Y’ello Care event, held in Lagos. The MTN 21 Day’s Y’ello Care is an event observed annually in the month of June by MTN operators across 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East, aimed at giving educational support to various communities in which MTN operate. According to Goshen, “This is the sixth time we have been running this event and we had chosen ‘Investing in Education for All’ as our theme this year’s 21 Days of Y’ello Care is, which was the same theme we had last year.

“This is actually because of the premium we place on education which is a critical part of societal development. We recognise the vital role education plays in the development of our nation, and everyone have a role to play in ensuring that the anomaly state of education is being rebranded.” He continued, “Over the last 21 days, a total of 1,443 staff signed up to participate in six unique educational projects, and we have volunteered our time and energy towards making a positive and lasting impact on the educational sector. In this year’s MTN 21 Day Y’ello Care event we have recorded a number of inspiring achievements.

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“We have made provision for twelve digital libraries in Lagos, Ibadan, Asaba, Abuja, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, and Abeokuta. Students in 81 schools across Nigeria have also benefited in the knowledge we have been able to cross fertilise.” Speaking with BusinessDay in an interview, Felix Amojola, the project manager, MTN 21 Days Y’ello Care 2013, said, “Today is the grand finale of this year’s event which started on the 1st of June, 2013; this event is an annual event that has being running for six years. We discovered that the education every country today is the bedrock of any economy that is why MTN has been continually supportive to this event.”

“In carrying out this project we had to partner with some organisations to achieve our objectives in this year’s campaign. At the opening ceremony of the event, we invited publishers where we had Y’ello Book Fair, donating books for Nigerian students. Most importantly, the ministries of education across the country, they have been very supportive to this campaign. We are trying our best to achieving the millennium development goal basically on education,” Felix said.