MTN Sacks 200 Workers, 80 Contract Staff Members In Nigeria

South African telecoms giant, MTN, has sacked 280 of its workers in its Nigeria arm, in a major job cut that is targeting at least, 25 per cent of its 1,8000 workers in the country, a company source confirmed yesterday in Lagos.

According to the source, some 200 permanent employees and about 80 contract staffers across various cadres, ranging from new graduates to senior managers, were affected in a move the source said is designed to inject fresh blood into the telco’s workforce.

Many of those sacked spent up to 15 years with the company, having joined MTN as it opened its business in Nigeria in 2001.
Sources said affected workers were given a dismal severance of 75 per cent of their gross monthly income multiplied by the number of years with the company.

“Given that the company is about 16 years old in Nigeria, the severance package brought pain and discontent among the affected staff.

“With the payoff structure, senior managers with 15 years of service were left with about N15 million; most of the staff got less than N5 million,” company source explained.

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.
MTN’s spokesman,FunsoAina, could not be reached for comments yesterday.