‘Don’t scare away MTN’ – Nigeria

Nigeria must not scare away MTN, its minister of communications said, as lawmakers investigate alleged illegal money transfers just three months after the government fined Africa’s biggest telecoms firm over $1 billion (about R13.5 billion).

The comments by Adebayo Shittu indicate the government does not want to see the South African company punished unduly in Nigeria, its biggest market, if the latest allegations prove to be true.

“Nobody will say that MTN is not important to Nigeria – we must encourage them, we must not scare them away from Nigeria,” Shittu said.

MTN, the largest mobile phone firm in Nigeria, threatened to pull out of the country last year during a dispute over unregistered SIM cards before the government reduced a settlement by nearly 70% to $1 billion.

The company now faces another potentially hefty penalty if an investigation by Nigeria’s upper house of parliament finds evidence that MTN Group illegally transferred $13.9 billion out of the West African country between 2006 and 2016, as alleged.

MTN has said it did not break Nigeria’s currency transfer rules.

“The presumption is that they are innocent and we pray they remain innocent,” Shittu said, referring to the investigation. “They must stay.”

Nigeria accounts for a third of MTN’s revenue.