facilities, it might be forced to close shop and 99 per cent of its
over 6,000 workforce in the country, who are Nigerians, would be
thrown into the labour market.
It also said that calls for the boycott of its services were
unjustified as such an action would affect its support chain, which
could cause another 500,000 Nigerians to lose their means of
livelihood.
The company stated this in Lagos some hours after two groups protested
in its Abuja and Benin offices against the killing of foreigners in
its home country, South Africa.
According to the Corporate Service Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Wale
Goodluck, there are only 12 expatriates working for the company in the
country, compared to a workforce of 6,000 Nigerians.
Goodluck said, "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 per
cent 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."
He noted that the company had spent in excess of $15bn on capital
expenditure growing the telecommunications business in Nigeria.
"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," Goodluck added.
--PUNCH
No comments:
Post a Comment