Jonathan claims credit for MTN Nigeria’s first indigenous CEO

Jonathan believes his economic policies influenced the appointment of the Nigerian by MTN. The President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has expressed his delight on Facebook, over the appointment of a Nigerian as the first indigenous Chief Executive Officer, CEO of the Nigerian branch of the privately owned South African telecoms company, MTN. Mr. Jonathan, on Facebook, Thursday, celebrated Michael Ikpoki’s appointment as one of his administration’s achievement. He said the MTN appointment validates his government’s efforts to build the capacity of the Nigerian knowledge worker and make the country a regional and continental hub for excellence in business and service delivery. The appointment, he also believes, was enhanced by the government’s policy and reforms such as the Local Content Act. Mr. Ikpoki was brought back on July 24 from Ghana where he served as the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana Ltd since April 2011 to head the lucrative Nigerian arm of the telecoms company. He was previously the Sales and Distribution Executive for MTN Nigeria. He joined MTN Nigeria as Advisor in 2001 and was promoted to General Manager, Regulatory Affairs in 2004. “I commend MTN Nigeria limited for this appointment,” Mr. Jonathan said in a Facebook post. Uninterrupted Power supply In the same post, Mr Jonathan listed, after Mr. Ikpoki’s appointment, three weeks of uninterrupted power supply in Awka, Anambra State as the second of his administration’s top achievements in recent times. “My friends on Facebook, in a few years from now many will not remember the agony and anger caused by absence of electricity in our homes just as many do not now remember the long queues in front of NITEL awaiting to take or make a call,” the president said in the post that initially misspelled Awka as “Awaka”. The post was deleted and corrected in less than 10 minutes after it was initially published. The president said more Nigerian cities would “soon be able to have such celebrations” because his power policy is producing desired effects – with almost all of Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies (Discos) and Generating companies (Gencos) now in private hands. The president also took credit for the recent registration of Nigeria’s merger opposition party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), saying his choice of top officials for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, enabled the party’s registration. The president said Nigeria’s economy was growing, drawing assertions from growth in Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, as well as Nigeria’s posture to have Africa’s largest Gross Domestic Product, GDP, “in the next few years.” A mid-July forecast by the Economist’s Intelligence Unit, EIU, suggests Nigeria’s real GDP growth will slow down this year for the first time to 6.8 per cent, slightly below the annual average of 7 per cent over the past decade. The EIU suggests Nigeria’s prospects are affected by global economic uncertainty, constraints in infrastructure and the business environment as well as the bloody insurgency by Boko Haram militants in the northern part of the country.
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