Large South African companies with operations in Nigeria such as MTN, Multichoice , and Shoprite have taken pre-cautious steps to temporarily shut down physical shops in the West African nation following attacks on their facilities across the country in retaliation for the ongoing xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and their interests in South Africa.
The organisations have restricted customer service activities to online and telephone channels after their facilities came under attack in at least three state, and asked workers to stay away from work, reports from across Nigeria indicated Wednesday.
In a public statement Wednesday, MTN Nigeria declared that “while we remain committed to providing uninterrupted services, the safety and security of our customers, staff and partners is our primary concern. All MTN stores and service centers will therefore be closed as a precaution until further notice”.
MTN Nigeria’s CEO Ferdi Moolman, said the company “strongly condemns hate, prejudice and xenophobia and reiterate our unequivocal condemnation of all violence. We seek to connect people, bring people together and provide a platform for everyone’s voice to be heard. We are against all forms of bigotry and discrimination; they should have no place in society”.
In a statement signed by Uto Ukpanah, company secretary, MTN said it was engaging all relevant authorities in this regard and urges them to act swiftly to reduce tensions both in South Africa and Nigeria.
The retaliation to attacks on foreigners including Nigerians in South Africa, led angry protesters in parts of Nigeria to vandalise and set fire on South Africa-owned businesses, as MTN, Shoprite and Multichoice DSTV became the hardest-hit by the outrage. MTN offices in Kano, Lagos, Uyo, Ibadan, Benin and other cities have been shut, reports said.
BusinessDay learnt that Multichoice and Shoprite have also declared holidays for their staff in cities across Nigeria.
Stakeholders say that companies have taken the right steps to ensure the safety of their staff which is predominantly Nigerian.
“It is very unfortunate that the xenophobic incident in South Africa has led to the shutdown of telecommunications service centres belonging to MTN in Nigeria. However, it is a good decision to ensure that there is no escalation of this situation. Currently, there is no negative impact on calls and services and we are encouraged that the Nigerian government intervened to condemn the attacks,” Olusola Teniola, president, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) told BusinessDay by phone.
Geoffrey Onyeama, Nigeria’s minister of Foreign Affairs said through his official twitter handle that he hasdmade “concrete proposals in respect of compensation and a viable security mechanism to protect Nigerians, for South African Government’s urgent consideration.”
Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson
