In what may be a sign of new beginning and/or the possible fallout of the recent initial public offering that may have produced new significant shareholders and the need to inject fresh blood, MTN Nigeria Plc, on Wednesday announced a board shakeup with effect from September 2, 2019.
In a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), by Uto Ukpana, its company secretary, MTN Nigeria announced the retirement of Pascal Dozie, its founding chairman who has been in the saddle since 2001.
His replacement is Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, the man who was regulator-in-chief of the sector as Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) at the time MTN Nigeria was granted GSM licence.
Dozie is, however, retiring with Col. Sani Bello (Rtd), his vice-chairman, as well as Chief Victor Odili, Mallam Ahmed Dasuki, Babatunde Folawiyo and Gbenga Oyebode, all non-executive directors of the company.
To replace them, the statement announced the appointment of maiden chief executive of Nigeria’s National Pension Commission (Pencom) and former director at the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and now chairman of Polaris Bank and TAJ Bank, Muhammad Ahmad; as well as ex-minister for communication, Omobola Johnson; and pioneer chief executive of the African Finance Corporation, Andrew Alli.
Other are Michael Ajukwu, a former executive director, corporate banking at United Bank for Africa, now on the board of Sterling Bank, as an independent director; Abubakar Mahmoud, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria; as well as Mrs. Ifueko Omogui-Okauru, former chief executive of Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service.
With the changes, the new appointees will now join other members of the board such as Rhidwaan Gasant, also an independent director; Ralph Mupita, Paul Norman, Jens Schulte-Bockum; Rob Shuter and Kari Toriola; all non-executive directors; as well as Chief Executive Ferdinand Moolman.
The statement expressed “appreciation to the six directors for the commitment, leadership and extensive contributions to the success of the company since their appointment in 2001.”
According to Moolman, “(the) combination of extensive experience across the worlds of technology, finance, regulatory and policy development, and corporate governance offers a hugely synergistic set of skills that will be of great benefit to us as we move into a new phase of growth.”