MTN Nigeria is bleeding and Nigerians working there are suffering. Few hours ago, MTN fired 280 workers. Doing this on May 1 – the workers’s day – is not really a great heart for MTN. Apparently, they want the impact to bite harder and for the government to feel their pains.
The firing was done on Friday but made public today. The 280 jobs represent about 15% of the entire workforce in Nigeria.
Those affected by the move include some 200 permanent employees and about 80 contract staff across various cadres, ranging from new graduates to senior managers. Many of those sacked spent up to 15 years with the company having joined MTN as it opened its business in Nigeria in 2001.
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Our sources said affected workers were given a dismal severance of 75% of their gross monthly income multiplied by the number of years with the company.
MTN Nigeria recorded nearly $1 billion in profit in 2016. However, the telecoms firm was heavily fined by the Nigerian government for failing to disconnect 5.2 million unregistered subscribers.
But a source familiar with the latest downsizing said 200 of those affected had earlier agreed to leave the company voluntarily.
The sackings were as a result of the changing dynamics of the telecoms industry in recent times where the firm is making lesser on voice and data owing to recession and competitions. As WhatsApp and other similar services continue to become widespread, the trajectory does not look great for MTN and other telecom firms like Airtel, Glo and Etisalat which is massively indebted to banks.