Last 25 Years Were About Access, Next 25 Years Must Be About Deeper Ecosystem, Innovation, Global Competitiveness—MTN Nigeria

Last 25 Years Were About Access,

OpenLife News reports that twenty five years ago, a telecommunications investment company called MTN entered Nigeria.
Today, that investment has become an ecosystem of infrastructure, enterprise, skills and ownership.

Explaining key areas in the journey of the company at the August Breakfast meeting organized by the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce Thursday in Lagos, Mr. Modupe Kadiri, Chief Financial Officer, MTN Nigeria reflected on “Building Local Content Together” on “25 Years of Shared Growth,” emphasized that “In 2001, Nigeria opened a market and investment followed. Nigerian capability turned that investment into an ecosystem.”

“This is not just a story about MTN Nigeria. It is a story about what Nigerians do with connectivity once they have it,” he noted.

According to him, the 2001 opportunity was just more of telecoms liberalization and its start of commercial operations which by 2006, cascaded into “rapid network expansion and growth of national supplier ecosystem,” resulting to ownership through deepening of local participation by listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange with results manifesting in infrastructure, enterprise, skills and local values.

But the point is not the number. The point is what those connections enable, Kadiri emphasized.

Connectivity is an input into other people’s enterprise.
It is the farmer in Benue checking market prices.
It is the fintech in Yaba moving billions.
It is the student in Enugu joining a class in London.
It is the small business in Kano taking payment on MoMo.

The network is not the destination. The enterprise it enables is.

FROM SPEND TO CAPABILITY

For 25 years, the question has been: how does expenditure become capacity?

In 2025 alone, over ₦2.7 trillion was spent with Nigerian suppliers.

That spend does 5 things:

1. Demand for Nigerian goods and services – It creates a market.
2. Stronger governance, delivery and quality systems – To meet MTN standards, suppliers had to professionalize.
3. People learn, specialise and deepen technical capability – Engineers, technicians, and field staff now have world-class skills.
4. Suppliers invest, employ more people and expand capacity – They are no longer micro businesses.
5. Stronger businesses win beyond one client and one market – Our best suppliers today are exporting services across Africa.

The goal is not supplier dependency. The goal is supplier competitiveness.

THE TREND MATTERS MORE THAN THE AMOUNT

Local content was 59.6% in 2024.
It rose to 62% in 2025.
And in the first half of 2026 alone, it is already ₦1.5 trillion.

A rising line invites the question: where does it go next?

The best outcome is not a supplier permanently dependent on MTN.
The best outcome is a supplier competitive enough to win anywhere.

ADDRESSING THE 38%

We must address the 38% before anyone else does.

Some categories — radio equipment, handsets, core software — cannot yet be sourced in Nigeria.
That gap is not a failure of commitment.
It is the opportunity on the table.

The first phase of local content was shaped by rollout, civil works and distribution.
The next phase must go further. It must go into manufacturing, into R&D, into software, into design.

That is how we move from being consumers of technology to builders of technology.

THE NEXT 25 YEARS

Twenty five years ago we laid fiber and towers. Twenty five years later we have an ecosystem.

The responsibility for the next twenty five is clear:
Make that ecosystem deeper, more innovative, and more globally competitive.

That means investing in skills,  backing Nigerian suppliers to scale, closing the 38% gap and  ensuring connectivity continues to be the input for Nigeria’s next generation of enterprise.

Kadiri thanked the Chamber “for having us,” saying that “The story of the last 25 years was about access. Therefore, the story of the next 25 years must be about capability,” he assured.