MTN says rising insecurity threatens its operations in Nigeria

MTN says rising insecurity threatens its operations in Nigeria

The local unit of MTN Group in South Africa has raised the alarm that its services in Nigeria could be disrupted due to the rising insecurity in the country.

MTN Nigeria became the first company to acknowledge possible disruption to its services due to insecurity in the country.

Nigeria faces increased insecurity, ranging from banditry, mass abduction of students at schools, kidnappings for ransom, armed conflict between herdsmen and farmers, armed robberies to an insurgency that has affected development and job creation in Nigeria.

Reuters said it sighted a message written by MTN to customers, which said: “Sadly, we must inform you that with the rising insecurity in different parts of Nigeria, service delivery to your organisation may be impacted in the coming days.

“This means that in some cases, our technical support team may not be able to get to your site and achieve optimum turnaround time in fault management as quickly as possible.”

Nigeria is MTN’s most lucrative market out of the 22 countries the company operates in across Africa, Asia and the Middle East but it is also one of the most problematic.

MTN runs Nigeria’s largest mobile phone network, which generates around a third of the company’s revenue.

The World Bank has also said that growth in Nigeria resumed in the fourth quarter after a COVID-19 induced recession, which left the rest of sub-Saharan Africa with food inflation, heightened insecurity and stalled reforms, slowing the economy and increasing poverty.

When contacted for reaction, MTN Nigeria said it was not aware of the notification by MTN South Africa on possible service disruptions in Nigeria.