MTN Nigeria Shut Down Shops Nationwide

MTN Nigeria reported on Wednesday that it will close all stores and service centres in the country until further notice after its facilities in three cities were attacked.

The facilities were attacked to get revenge after days of riots in South Africa chiefly targeting foreign-owned, including Nigerian, businesses.

In a statement MTN Nigeria said “The safety and security of our customers, staff and partners is our primary concern".

“MTN condemns any acts of violence, prejudice and xenophobia.”

The latest wave of unrest in South Africa has raised fears of a recurrence of violence in 2015 aimed at foreigners and in which at least seven people were killed. Before that, some 60 people were killed in a wave of unrest around the country in 2008.

President Muhammadu Buhari said on Tuesday he was urgently sending a special envoy to meet with President Cyril Ramaphosa to secure the “safety of (Nigerian citizens’) lives and property”.

Police have yet to pinpoint what triggered the violence, which began on Sunday when protesters armed with makeshift weapons roamed the streets of Pretoria’s business district, pelting shops with rocks and petrol bombs and running off with goods.

It was recorded that Nigeria has MTN’s biggest market, with 58 million users in 2018 and accounts for a third of the South African group’s core profit.