MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola has declared the telecoms giant a “Nigerian company through and through,” defending the recent tariff adjustment as a financial lifeline that enabled the company to increase capital expenditure from N250 billion in 2024 to N1 trillion in 2025.
Karl Toriola wants Nigerians to stop thinking of MTN as a foreign company — and he came with numbers to back the claim.
Speaking during an interview on Arise News, the MTN Nigeria Chief Executive pushed back firmly against the perception that the telecommunications giant is simply a South African business operating in Nigeria, arguing the company’s roots in the country run far deeper than its origins suggest.
“MTN Nigeria is a Nigerian company through and through. We are domiciled in Nigeria. We are listed on the Nigerian Exchange. We pay all the taxes, duties and levies expected of us, and we are run by Nigerians,” Toriola said.
According to Vanguard,he pointed to the company’s ownership structure as evidence. Over 201,000 retail investors hold MTN Nigeria shares directly, while approximately 11 million Nigerians own stakes indirectly through pension fund investments. Of MTN Nigeria’s entire workforce, only four are expatriates — and every member of the executive committee bar one is Nigerian.
On the contentious issue of the recent telecom tariff adjustments approved by the Federal Government, Toriola was equally direct.
“People perceived the tariff increase as an aspiration for profitability, but the reality was that we were on our knees financially. We couldn’t even pay our month-to-month bills with the revenues we were generating. The tariff adjustment was an absolute necessity. It enabled us to stay alive,” he said.
The improved revenue position has since translated into aggressive network investment. MTN Nigeria’s capital expenditure jumped from approximately N250 billion in 2024 to roughly N1 trillion in 2025. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, the company spent N390 billion on capital expenditure — exceeding its N359 billion profit after tax for the same period.
Toriola also addressed MTN’s global ownership structure, noting that while MTN Group was founded in South Africa, only about 50 per cent of its shareholding is African, with the remainder held by investors across North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
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