By Kemo Cham
Despite the imminent change in
ownership of the telco Airtel, all its current agreements will be honored by
the new owners, Managing Director of Airtel Sierra Leone, Oladapo Olusope,
has said.
He was speaking at the presentation
of cheques to journalists who won awards as part of the Sierra Leone
Association of Journalist (SLAJ) Media Awards competition.
Eight journalists in all won in
various categories in the 2015/2016 SLAJ/Airtel Annual Media Awards. They were
presented their cheques at a ceremony held at the Association’s Headquarters in
Freetown recently. The awardees had been revealed at the awards dinner held in
Bo early this month. It’s sponsored by Airtel Sierra Leone, which is one of
three subsidiaries of the India-based conglomerate Bharti Airtel sold earlier
this year to the French telecom giant Orange.
Dapo, as the Airtel MD is called,
said they were currently in transition, meaning that the process of change in
ownership was being done.
In a situation like this, there are
fears of loss of jobs and even business deals.
SLAJ had struck this awards deal
with Airtel under its former MD Sudipto Chowdhury. Mr Chowdhury left the
country under unceremonious circumstances.
Dapo was redeployed to head the
Freetown office while a substantive MD was been sought. This was before the
Orange deal was finalized.
Three people, all of them lecturers
at the Fourah Bay College’s Mass Communication Department, were also each given
Le31m, the equivalent of US$5000, as scholarship to pursue studies at PhD
level.
That category had five openings, but
only the three people – Tonya Musa, head of the Mass communication Department,
Francis Sow, a lecturer and Mrs Williette James, also a lecturer – sent in applications.
Another category of the awards, a
Le25m scholarship package for children of journalists, saw no application sent.
This category is open for ten children of journalists who are in secondary
school and five children in University The package is open until the end
of July 2016. SLAJ is encouraging eligible journalists to take advantage of the
opportunity and apply.
This troubled SLAJ president Kevin
Lewis.
“All of you know Airtel is going and
I don’t want them to go with that money,” he said.
And in response, the Airtel boss
assured that the agreement will remain in place.
The 2016 SLAJ/Airtel awards is the
second edition. The first was held last year but it focused on the Ebola
epidemic.
Lewis said the awards commenced
initially with 10 categories, and that the plan was to progressively increase
them.
“This is a practical demonstration
of our commitment to improving the profession by rewarding excellent work and
helping to train the trainers who will in turn train the practitioners. We
thank Airtel for sharing our dream for excellent and better educated
journalists,” said SLAJ President Kelvin Lewis. He thanked Airtel for their consistent support of the
annual awards and scholarship schemes and hoped that the relationship between
the two organizations continued to grow from strength to strength.
The Airtel boss said his company was
“very proud” to associate with a program that promoted excellence in reporting
and the education of journalists.
“This is because, as a leading
mobile telecoms company, we value professionalism and education. We thank the
leadership of SLAJ for giving us this unique opportunity,” he said.
“Education is the most profitable
investment for the future and an ignited mind is the most powerful tool on
earth,” said Williette James, in a vote of
thanks delievere on behalf of the awardees.
She added: “An institution
that chooses to invest in educating future leaders is one that has foresight
and bound to excel. Airtel have proven that their interest is not only limited
to providing effective telecommunications, but that they are passionate in
raising a crop of quality leaders. That is why they will always remain the
best.”
(C) Politico 28/06/16
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