In a press release today morning, MTN CEO Sifiso Dabengwa’s has resigned with immediate effect. The statement partly read;
“Due to the most unfortunate prevailing circumstances occurring at MTN Nigeria, I, in the interest of the company and its shareholders, have tendered my resignation with immediate effect,”
Former chief executive and chariperson a Phuthuma Nhleko as executive chairman for a period of 6 months while it looks for a successor. This comes at a time when the company was fined $5.2-billion by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in late October, after it failed to meet the deadline to disconnect more than 5-million unregistered subscribers in the country. This saw the company’s share price to plummet, prompting the JSE to suspend trading of its shares. It has since resumed trading, but on Friday its share price closed at R157.45, down from R161.50 in opening trade.
The new CEO in a statement said ;
“I will assume responsibility as executive chairman for the next 6 months as I proactively deal with the Nigerian regulator and will continue to work with them in addressing the issues around unregistered subscribers as a matter of urgency.”
He added that his second priority will be “to find an appropriate chief executive officer” after which he will return to his non-executive chairman role. The Nigerian market has been a key growth arena for MTN where it has more than 62-million subscribers.
