List on Nigeria’s stock market, Shittu urges MTN

Nigeria’s Communications Minister Adebayo Shittu has urged South Africa’s MTN to list its shares on the local stock market.

Speaking to MTN executives at an event organised by the telco, Shittu urged the company to do ‘the needful’.

Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator has said it aims to list its Nigerian unit on the local bourse but has given no date.

“I want to appeal to you that you do the utmost and do the needful to ensure that you get onto the Nigerian stock exchange,” Shittu said.

MTN had threatened to pull out of Nigeria last year during a dispute over unregistered SIM cards before the government agreed to reduce a settlement on the issue by nearly 70 per cent to $1 billion.

In previous interviews, Shittu had noted that “Nobody will say that MTN is not important to Nigeria – we must encourage them, we must not scare them away from Nigeria,” he said.

Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu

Shittu statement came after Nigeria’s Senate found evidence that MTN Group Ltd illegally transferred $13.9 billion out of the West African country between 2006 and 2016.

“Everyone who is in business will have ups and downs. You don’t throw away the baby with the bathwater,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Shittu said the investigation was an issue for financial regulators and did not fall within his “constitutional responsibility.”

The government, however, can influence the size of the penalty, as in the case of the SIM card issue.

Shittu also said Nigeria planned to build and launch two new satellites using a $550 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of China, which will cover 85 percent of the cost.

Nigeria will finance the other 15 percent, with Shittu calling on domestic and foreign investors to take part in the funding.