MTN Records 62% Local Procurement, Spends N2.7trn on Nigerian Suppliers in 2025
• Says country constitutes 99.9% of its workforce, has four expatriate staff
•May seek 30% investment from Nigerian investors to acquire $1.1bn IHS stake
Emma Okonji and Dike Onwuamaeze
The MTN Nigeria Plc has disclosed that it has 99.9 per cent Nigerian workforce, achieved over 62 per cent local procurements, and has reduced the number of expatriates in its employment to four compared to over 300 foreign experts it had in 2021.
These revelations come as strong indications emerged that the MTN Group is seeking Nigerian investors to acquire up to 30 per cent stake in IHS Nigeria, to enable the group conclude the acquisition of IHS Holding Limited.
The telecommunications company said it executed over N1 trillion expenditure on digital infrastructure in 2025 alone and pointed out that the next frontier was to export technology, services, platforms and intellectual property (IP) across Africa.
The Chief Financial Officer of MTN Nigeria, Mr. Modupe Kadri, disclosed these in his presentation titled, “Building Local Content Together: 25 Years of Shared Growth” at the Nigerian-South Africa Chamber of Commerce (NSACC) August 2026 Breakfast Forum.
Kadri explained that MTN Nigeria treats procurement as a pathway to engendering stronger Nigerian standards, skills and capacity, adding that the promise of local content is the building of Nigerian enterprises that can compete anywhere in the world.
He said: “In 2001, Nigeria opened a market, investment followed and Nigerian capability turned that investment into an ecosystem.
“The story of 25 years was not only how MTN grew in Nigeria. It is how Nigerian enterprise, capability and ownership grew alongside it.”
He emphasised that local content does not simply mean “where we buy but what we build,” adding that “local procurement tells us where money was spent and what that expenditure helped to build.”
He said the real measure of local content was the capability that remains in the economy after the contract has been delivered, noting that the goal was not to create vendors that need MTN but to build Nigerian businesses that could compete anywhere in the world.
Kadri said: “Today, most of our technology needs are fulfilled by local suppliers in contrast to what was available at our inception when we relied on foreign suppliers.”
He explained that a truly local contents enabled environment would procure goods and services locally, engender high-level standards and governance, enhance skills development where people learn, specialise and build technical capability and finally achieve market competition.
Among the companies that partnered with MTN Nigeria that have grown to international competitors are the SO&U, which is MTN’s brand manager; Seams& Stitches; the Black House Media; the Computer Warehouse Group.
According to MTN Nigeria, these companies are proof that long term opportunity, capability and entrepreneurship can reinforce one another.
Kadri said: “So, most of the people who started with us in 2001 are today dealing with other countries in West Africa and beyond.
“Local content is where a Nigerian company becomes strong enough to compete anywhere in the world.
“I always say that MTN Nigeria cannot succeed sustainably if Nigeria itself does not succeed.
“Our customers are Nigerians. Employees are Nigerians. Our suppliers are Nigerians.
“Our shareholders include Nigerian individuals and institutions. Our network is also embedded in Nigerian communities.
“Our future is, therefore, inseparable from Nigeria’s future. So, shared growth is not charity.
“It is not public relations. It is enlightened investment.”
He stated that MTN Nigeria spent over N2.7 trillion with Nigerian suppliers in 2025, adding that the percentage spent on local procurement grew from 59.6 per cent in 2024 to 62 per cent in 2025.
According to him, MTN Nigeria has cumulatively paid over N7 trillion in taxes and statutory payments since its inception in 2001 and has emerged as a Nigerian truly led business with local professional capability and more that 346,000 shareholders.
“Shared growth is what happens when value circulates through businesses, people, government and ownership,” he said.
Kadri pointed out that future opportunities are in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data, cloud and data centres, fibre and 5G, fintech, cybersecurity, as well as content and intellectual property (IP).
According to him, local companies must invest in governance, quality, technology and people.
“The goal is not protection from global competition. The goal is preparation for global competition.
“So, can Nigeria move from a market for technology to a producer of technology for Africa? That is the question we all must answer.
“It is doable. But it will require deliberate policy, patient capital, public access, skills development, quality education, supply investment and a much higher level of ambition for Nigerian businesses,” Kadri said.
Meanwhile, there are strong indications that MTN Group is seeking Nigerian investors to acquire up to 30 per cent stake in IHS Nigeria, to enable the group to conclude the acquisition of IHS Holding Limited that is estimated to reach between $900 million and $1.1 billion.
Bloomberg, which reported the development, cited people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the details are private.
Bloomberg reported that the proposed sale of the 30 per cent stake could generate between $900 million and $1.1 billion for MTN.
The move by MTN Group to seek local investment from Nigerian investors in IHS Nigeria, is sequel to the conditional approval given recently by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to the MTN Group for the acquisition of IHS Nigeria.
FCCPC had given conditional approval to MTN to sell down up to 30 per cent of the Nigerian component of the IHS business to local investors at market prices over time.
MTN Group Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Mupita, confirmed that proceeds from the sell-down would be used to reduce debt linked to the IHS transaction, while declining to provide details on the potential value of the stake.
“Proceeds from any sell-down would be used to pay down IHS-related debt. The deal would be done on a market-oriented valuation basis,” Mupita said in an interview when asked about the deal.
IHS operates about 29,000 telecom towers across Africa, with Nigeria and South Africa representing its largest markets. In Nigeria, the tower company operates about 18,000 mobile-phone towers, according to people cited by Bloomberg.
In February this year, MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile network operator, entered advanced discussions to acquire 75 per cent stake in IHS Holding Limited.
In August, shareholders of IHS Holding Limited approved MTN Group’s proposed acquisition of the remaining shares in the tower infrastructure company, clearing a major milestone for the transaction.
IHS, which started operations in 2001 from Nigeria, and was founded by Sam Darwish, grew to become one of the largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the world.
MTN and IHS have maintained a longstanding relationship in the telecoms’ infrastructure market, with MTN selling thousands of its telecom towers to IHS through sale-and-leaseback arrangements over the years.
A landmark transaction took place in South Africa in 2022, when MTN agreed to sell more than 5,700 sites to IHS Towers as part of the companies’ broader infrastructure partnership.
Four years later, MTN Group is planning to acquire IHS Holding Limited, a development that will see MTN reclaiming its telecoms towers that were initially sold to IHS and managed by IHS.
IHS holds an estimated 41 per cent share of the evaluated tower market, controlling approximately 16,500 of nearly 40,000 towers.