Airtel Nigeria has partnered with Human Network International (HNI), an ICT development organisation, to unveil the 3-2-1 service, a free on demand call-in system that provides information on a range of topics on all phone types aimed at improving social economic development across Nigeria.
The 3-2-1 service provides public service information on-demand to mobile phone users in English, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo and Pidgin English, depending on their preferred language selection.
The topics launched on the service include Agriculture, Commodity Prices, Family Planning, Good Governance, Health, News & Entertainment, Nutrition, Water Sanitation, and Weather.
The call-in system will further be enhanced to cover more topics and messages such as entrepreneurship and financial literacy in the near future. By dialling 321 prepaid Airtel lines, users will connect the caller to voice prompts in any of the earlier mentioned indigenous languages or in English.
In his remark, Gbemiga Owolabi, human resource director at Airtel Nigeria, said Airtel is committed to creating platforms that will empower Nigerians and creating value that uplifts the lives of critical stakeholders in various communities where they operate.
‘‘Our belief of going above and beyond our call of duty to our core business of providing innovative telecommunication products and services is actually borne out of the acknowledgement of the myriads of needs of our customers and our desire to meet them,’’ he said.
Owolabi further added: ‘‘we are excited to partner with HNI to create a huge platform that offers a plethora of opportunities to enable millions of Nigerians across various communities to lead better and healthier lives. We are confident that the 321 initiative will help transform lives in many locations across the country.”
Harriet Blest, Country Manager for HNI in Nigeria said by turning simple mobile phones into search engines, Human Network International and Airtel are giving Nigerians an entirely new way to access information using technology they already own.
She said: “Nigerians with little or no literacy can still leverage the service, and that makes it an incredibly powerful tool. We are delighted to have partnered with Airtel on this and look forward to reaching millions of Nigerians.
CHINWE AGBEZE
