Xenophobia: 6,000 Nigerians Will Lose Their Jobs If MTN Leaves Nigeria

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