South African telecoms giant, MTN, has sacked 280 of its workers in its Nigeria.
This development is coming on the heels of a major job cut that is targeted at about 25 per cent of the company’s 1,8000 workers in the country, it was gathered.
Mad House Naija further gathered that some 200 permanent employees and about 80 contract staffers across various cadres, ranging from new graduates to senior managers, were affected in the move 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.
This medium learnt that 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.
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.
The sackings it was further learnt were as a result of “the changing dynamics of the telecoms industry in recent times”.
MTN it was said, introduced the voluntary severance scheme (VSS), to provide a window for one week in April, for persons who have served in the company for five years and above to take up.
Eventually, all 280 staff were disengaged under the VSS and paid their benefits, the source said.
The source added that since revenue from the voice segment of the industry has attained its plateau, the new revenue stream would naturally come from data services. “Younger and tech-savvy Nigerian graduates are going to drive this new initiative designed to take the telco to the next level,” it was gathered.
