Telecom giant reportedly recalls sacked Visafone staff

folarin okunola

January 8, 2016 11:04 AM

All staff that had been fired, excluding drivers and office assistants, have now been recalled by the company.

A man walks in front of an advertisement billboard of MTN phone company in Abuja, Nigeria May 25, 2015.

MTN Nigeria has reportedly recalled over 90 percent of Visafone employees that had been sacked following its acquisition of the only surviving CDMA operator in Nigeria.

According to report by the Daily Sun, all staff that had been fired, excluding drivers and office assistants, have now been recalled by the company.

One of the recalled employees, speaking under the condition of anonymity, confirmed the development and stated that the employees are currently waiting for their new remuneration packages and work guidelines, the report said.

READ: Telecoms giant acquires only surviving CDMA operator Visafone

“When we were asked to leave, we were given only three months salaries in lieu of notice, which was not too good because some of us have put in five to 10 years of service. Visafone Communications came into Nigeria at a time when the defunct Multi-Links and Starcoms were dominating the CDMA sector. It broke their monopoly and instantly became the fourth largest network in the country,” the employee said, according to the report.

However, the reports quotes a source as saying that the number of sacked workers are only about 500, not 2000 as reported by a national daily on Thursday, due to the earlier lay-offs in 2013 and 2015 respectively.

Visafone was founded by Zenith Bank chairman, Jim Ovia, but has failed to breakthrough and gain adequate market share.

folarin okunola