By Emma Uja (Abuja Bureau Chief) & Prince Osuagwu (Hi-Tech Editor)
Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele yesterday said that new investors to the newly unveiled brand 9mobile would emerge latest December this year.
According to him, the current board of the telecom company is interim and not supposed to last beyond 90 to 180 days from inception.
Emefiele’s position is giving credit to the rumours that many telecom companies, including Bharti Airtel of India, Vodafone of United Kingdom and France’s Orange mobile, were jostling to grab the 65 per cent shareholding open to new investors from the exit of Mubadala and Emirates Telecom Services of United Arab Emirates.
Emefiele made that assurance in Abuja as he revealed to journalists, why the CBN intervened in the bank loan that led to management change in the telecom company.
He said: “We expect that businesses should operate profitably, but we also expect that whatever decision they take should not hurt other important stakeholders in that industry.
Etisalat, now 9mobile is one of the four biggest companies in the telecommunications industry in Nigeria with subscriber base of over 20 million. Of course, we also know that the revenue base of the company is very robust.
“Etisalat employs over 4000 people and if you understand the likely impact of an adverse consequence of losing the company on the lives of these 4000 people directly and indirectly, it is important that we do not allow any creditor that feels disadvantaged to take a decision that negatively affects other stakeholders.”
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