Emefiele, Shittu: We intervened in Etisalat crisis to protect Nigerian employees, insist 9mobile remains strong

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele and Communications Minister, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, on Tuesday, said the Federal Government intervened in the recent crisis which rocked Etisalat to protect Nigerian employees in the communications firm.
Due to the intervention, the firm, last week, changed its name to 9mobile.
Emefiele, who said 9mobile “remains one of the four biggest telecommunication companies in Nigeria with a solid revenue base”, said thousands of jobs would have been lost if the government did not intervene.
Speaking in Abuja, Emefiele said the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), supported by the CBN, intervened in the company because of its huge contribution to the nation’s economy.
“Etisalat employs more than 4,000 workers, with about 20 million subscribers nationwide. We could not allow the company to go down because of the negative impact on jobs, which was capable of impacting on the economy”.
While expressing delight in the indication of interests by some potential investors in the rescue of the communications company, Emefiele said that the interventions were temporal.
“The intervention is temporal, it should not last more than 90 to180 days. I am happy that potential investors are taking part”.
Shittu also said the Federal Government stepped into the crisis to save Nigerian employees as well as subscribers.
A statement by Mr Henshaw Ogubike, the Deputy Director, Press in the ministry, noted that Shittu said this when members of the new management of 9Mobile network provider visited him in his office on Tuesday in Abuja.
Shittu congratulated the new management team of the company and tasked them to work hard to revive the company.
He said the Federal Government would not fold its hand and allow the company to die, in view of its economic importance to the nation.
According to him, about 20 million Nigerians subscribe to the network, many are employed by it, Nigerian banks are stakeholders, hence the government’s quick intervention to rescue the company from creditors determined to take over the company.
The minister assured the management that the Federal Government would always support the telecommunication sector by providing an enabling environment for the industry to thrive.
Earlier, Mr Boye Olusanya, leader of 9mobile management team, commended the minister for the role he played to ensure that the company did not fold up.
Boye requested the minister to also intervene in the areas of Multiple Taxation, Foreign Exchange, Right of Way (RoW) and security of infrastructure that would ease operations in the sector.