MTN Nigeria says about 6,000 Nigerians
will lose their jobs if MTN is made to
leave Nigeria. Head of Communications
MTN, Mr Wale Goodluck said this while
reacting to calls by a protest group in
Edo state yesterday that the
telecommunications offices in Nigeria will
be shut and their installations attacked if
the xenophobic attacks in South Africa
continues.
Mr Goodluck said there are only 12
expatriates working for the company in
Nigeria compared to a workforce of
6,000 Nigerians.
"So if people go ahead with their threats
to attack our facilities, what that means is
that we may be forced to close down
the business in Nigeria and about 6,000
Nigerians that make up 99% of our
workforce will be unemployed.
Then, when you look at our support
chain, we have about 500,000 Nigerians
gainfully employed. So, boycotting our
services simply means destroying so
many other Nigerian businesses and
making over 500,000 other Nigerians to
lose their jobs. This business supports a
lot of businesses across the length and
breadth of Nigeria. Many of the
businesses that are affiliated to South
Africa are in the retail space, supporting
the growth of Nigeria and employing so
many Nigerians. We see no revenge of
Xenophobia and we commend the role
the Nigerian High Commissioner in
South Africa has played; at least there
has been no fatality on the part of any
Nigerian,” he said