DREDGING THE SWAMP: Over the last two decades the telecoms giant, MTN, has become an African landmark and perhaps, the centrepiece of the Nigerian life.
It’s the biggest and unarguably the best.
MTN found a goldmine in Nigeria, Africa’s sleeping giant. MTN awakened our rich communicative impulses that we had to begin to wonder how we existed beforw the advent of the yellow fellows.
MTN has made good in Nigeria; real good! Story was that by the first five years, it didn’t know how to manage its loot, sorry, cash! Cash in hard currencies. Story was that it had to employ a haulage firm and smuggle, sorry, ship through the land borders. But this of course is merely barroom story!
But the thrust of this write up is that MTN has thrived exceedingly on the Nigerian shores. In deed more than anywhere else in Africa, including mother country, South Africa. I don’t have the exact figures but a pie chart may show that 60 percentile of MTN pizza comes from Nigeria.
But never begrudge a pioneer… you were not there when the glitzy highrise was a mere swamp. And you may never fathom how a filthy swamp transformed into glass-and-concrete masterpiece! Let’s do a bit of an illustration: let’s assume MTN had 5000 masts at the outset, it would have required 10000 high-grade power generating sets – one backing up the other. Public power is not reliable so MTN provides it’s own power.
Now let’s stretch this a little; over 20-year period! No, let’s take 15 years when the mast business was farmed out and outsourced. Imagine a business running on say, 10,000 generators every second, nonstop for about 15 years! That would be some humongous cost wouldn’t it. Add other costs like security for each of the masts, etc.
But knowing what i know, fending off Nigeria’s rapacious government officials would pose the biggest heartache to MTN even till now! I still wondered how the telco managed so much risks in the outset.
HOW TO LOVE A VIRGIN: But here was a virgin, for that’s what the Nigerian telecoms environment was in 2001. A nubile, verdant virgin… MTN cracked her cherries and has continued to ravish its ripened fruit since then with just a bit of opposition.
Yours truly would always be grateful to MTN in spite of everything. No, let’s recontextualized that. Let’s say it was most fortuitous that MTN, a foreign firm, was the pioneer. The reason being that one shudders at what the outcomes of our divestment of the telecoms sector would have been if we didn’t have MTN leading the way and settingup certain operating standards. The power situation comes to mind here and we are all witnesses to how the pioneering indigenous distribution companies (DisCos) have almost marred the process. Hardly any new investment in distribution facilities even till now. Consumers still acquire and pay for installation of transformers. The federal government had to directly intervene to meter consumers. The DisCos are only intent on creaming off from a crumbling status quo!
NICE LITTLE TOKENS BUT…This piece has however, been triggered by MTN advertising it new CSR offering as the official communications partner of the SUPER EAGLES as well as other national teams. This means the firm would provide a whole range of platforms for the officials and team members especially during competitions. This is laudable considering that Communication is key today.
This is good. As far as tokens go, it’s indeed very good. And this has been my beef with MTN’s CSR over the last 20 years. It has done so much public good but in little tokens which has rendered them almost insignificant today. A digital library here, a refurbished school there and all such. We haven’t seen MTN stamp its loud yellow on a massive edifice (say a specialist hospital or multipurpose sports centre) across the three geopolitical zones of the country.
It took about 15 years before MTN would grudgingly put up its shares on the Nigerian stock exchange for Nigerians to get a piece of the massive cake being baked in their backyards. In fact it took the prodding of competition to make it happen.
THE HUGE FOOTBALL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: This column would suggest MTN taking over the sponsorship of the Nigerian Football League big time as it does in other countries of Africa. We remember years ago when MTN and GLO had a do-or-die tussle as to who would sponsor Nigeria’s league. What has happened since then? Ironically, Nigeria’s football is probably as big as the telecoms industry. It requires the right mentality, the right minds, the right frameworks and some proper investments. Nigeria’s football is probably as big as Brazil’s. MTN can help galvanize this industry. It’s of course a tough road to walk but setting up Nigeria’s telecoms industry isn’t piece of cake either.
As part of its 20th anniversary of a very fruitful operation in Nigeria, we urge MTN to leave a loud landmark in Nigeria.
Let MTN open up her heart to Nigeria in the coming decades… let MTN stand up and claim her NAIJA bonafides!
– Osuji is a respected journalist