Ndukwe’s appointment as MTN chairman gets stakeholders’ support

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s telecoms industry have been unanimous in applauding the emergence of Ernest Ndukwe, a seasoned telecoms technocrat, as the new chairman of the board of directors of MTN Nigeria. Prominent among the group is the New Dimension Shareholders Association, a prominent group of Capital Market Investors and Shareholders in notable companies quoted on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. In a public statement signed by its president, Patrick Ajudua, the New Dimension Shareholders stated, “The appointment is a welcome development because he is tested and well experienced in the industry.” The Association expressed optimism that the new MTN Board headed by Ndukwe would ensure transparency, compliance with corporate governance, and value addition to the shareholders. In a similar vein, the president of Proactive Shareholders Association, Taiwo Oderinde, urged the new board to shun any corporate governance lapses capable of dragging the image of the firm through the mud. “The new chairman, Ndukwe, is a man with a wealth of experience and connections in the telecommunications sector. as a one-time head of NCC, I believe with the support

of other members of the board, he will bring this to bear in his new responsibility. I congratulate him and he should not let the shareholders and other stakeholders down ,” Oderinde said. Nduk we, a former executive vice chairman (EVC) of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has added vast experience and rich contributions to the growth of Nigerian telecoms sector over the years. A highly respected profession al’ s career has gone full circle, starting from the private sector as the managing director of a notable telecoms company, he moved into government service at the helm of the industry regulatory agency as EVC of NCC and back to the private sector, and now chairman of Nigeria’s largest operating company MTN. A recipient of the national honour of the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), Ndukwe is a past chairman of Administrative Council of African Telecommunications Union (ATU), and a past chairman of the West African Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (WATRA), which he helped pioneer. He was also a vice chairman of telecom development Advisory Group (TDAG) of the ITU representing Nigeria. In April 2014 he was decorated with an ITU Gold Medal Award “in recognition of his important contribution to global Information and communication technologies and to the work of ITU”.