By Fidelis Ebu
With its successful bid to sponsor the Nigerian Premier League (NPL), MTN has once again demonstrated that it is more committed than any other company to the development of sports in the country. Although the telecommunications company has been in the forefront of sports and social-economic development in the country, competitors have always questioned its allegiance to Nigeria.

While speaking on its recent bid for the title sponsorship of the NPL, Kola Oyeyemi, General Manager, Consumer Marketing, MTN Nigeria, explained that only few companies can claim to have contributed to enriching the lives of Nigerians the way MTN has consistently done.

Kola Oyeyemi

According to him, “It’s interesting and tragic when people say MTN is not a Nigerian company because it demonstrates some shallowness on the concept of what a Nigerian company should be. The question is, ‘what is a Nigerian company?’ ‘Is it a company that is built by a Nigerian but does not hire Nigerians in its top hierarchy or that does not train or expose Nigerians or that gives its staff a sense of abandonment, or the one that does not give back to Nigeria?’ ‘Or, is it a company that truly loves the country, educates, trains, develops the people and adds value to their lives?’.”

He outlined areas where MTN has impacted the lives of Nigerians. These include sports, music, education, health and economic empowerment.

“How many companies, in the last 10 years, have invested over N10 billion to structurally impact the education, health and lives of Nigerians? How many so-called Nigerian companies have been able to do that? At this point, the debate of what makes a Nigerian company becomes very interesting. I also ask, ‘is it defined by who had the first share or who first registered at CAC, or is it defined by what impact it is making in the Nigerian society?’”

Oyeyemi said that MTN Nigeria has provided the enabling environment backed by skills development policy which enables Nigerian professionals and entrepreneurs assume strategic positions in the company, stating that the personnel is over 97% local content overall.

He further said: “On the board of MTN Nigeria today, two most prominent Nigerians, Dr Pascal Dozie and Colonel Sani Bello preside as Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively along with four other distinguished Nigerians and foreigners providing the necessary direction for the company. When you look at the executive management, Nigerians occupy seven of ten executive management positions.

It’s a company where the Nigerian management have been empowered to contribute and drive the growth of the business. If you look at the next leadership level of General Managers, it’s about 98% Nigerian and less than 2% foreign. The work force, which is in thousands, is 99% Nigerian and less than 1% non-Nigerian. When you go to FIRS and you ask which brand is the most complaint when it comes to paying tax in Nigeria, MTN’s name come tops. So the question of what makes a Nigerian company still stands.”

Oyeyemi explained that MTN’s involvement in the NPL is for the good of the game. “We realise that football is where you breed the stars of tomorrow and that is why, apart from all our investments in Polo, Golf, Athletics, African Football and getting the sponsorship for the World Cup in 2010, we felt, “how do we groom the stars of tomorrow?’ We all know the challenges we have in Nigerian football.

We have a lot of expired and expiring talents but we keep recycling and so we have a lot of heavy feet on the pitch and that is not because they can’t play but because the game of football is the game of agility, which is a function of age and how well one exercises.”

It is in line with this philosophy of catch-them-young that MTN has over the years sponsored the Lagos Street Soccer Champions and the MTN Soccer Academy, involving Nigeria and Ghana, among other sport properties.