MTN Nigeria Boosts Employee Ownership with 536,327 Additional Shares

The filings show that the telco vested the shares in the employees between 26 March and 4 April.

Share vesting, an incentive-based scheme, allows the staff members of a company to be awarded its shares over a period of time provided they meet some specified conditions.

The new round of share vesting by MTN Nigeria continues an earlier disclosure in March when the mobile network operator announced that it had gifted 1.3 million shares to 33 key executives.

The employees rewarded at the time included the company secretary, the chief financial officer, the chief technical officer, an executive director, 11 managers, nine senior managers and nine general managers.

According to the latest filings, 10 managers, two senior managers, four general managers, four accountants, four officers, four analysts, a chief financial officer (MoMo PSB), an advisor and an administrator are the new beneficiaries.

Among them with their vested shares are General Manager, Network Performance & Quality Assurance, Remawa Bello (103,299 shares); General Manager, HR operations, Opeoluwa-Caleb Ajibola (111,368 shares); General Manager, Business Development, Ojutalayo Omotayo (32,104 shares); Chief Financial Officer (MoMo PSB), Michael-Nwadu Omolara (49,067 shares); General Manager, Sustainability & Shared Value, Adisa Adekemi (95,843 shares) and Manager, Planning & Forecasting, Eru Emuaro (2,365 shares).

They also include Advisor, Banking Services, Echi Igwe (2,365 shares); an officer of the Finance Operations, Eniola Adeniseun (2,365 shares); Analyst, Financial Operations, Ifeoluwa Adeniran (2,365 shares); Manager, Subscriber Fraud, Jimoh Adeyemi (11,219 shares); Manager, Budget and Financial Control, Linda Nnabue (2,365 shares); Senior Analyst, Financial Systems Integration, Odunayo Adefabi (2,365); Officer, Finance Operations, Oluwole Kolawole (2,365 shares); Administrator, Company Secretariat, Osarugue Okundaye (2,365 shares); an officer of the Finance Operations, Okpaire Raphael (1,183 shares) and Manager, Financial Planning, Wuraola Durowoju (2,365 shares).

The rest are Manager, Logistics & Warehouse, Adewale Ajao (10,307 shares); Accountant, Financial Operations, Adewunmi Samuel (2,365 shares); Officer, Finance Operations, Ogunjana Bukola (2,365 shares); Finance Manager, Diana Popoola (2,365 shares); Accountant, Financial Planning, Kulajolu George (2,365 shares); Manager, Business Assurance Change Management, Gladys Osaele (2,365 shares); Manager, Business Assurance, Adewale Akinleye (2,365 shares); Analyst, Revenue Assurance, Ngozi Eze (2,365 shares); Analyst, Revenue Assurance, Okangbe Michael (2,365 shares); Manager, Investor Relations, Ibekwe Oluchi (2,365 shares); Accountant, Financial Operations, Omowa Justina (2,365 shares); Accountant, Financial Analysis, Alli Mubarak (2,365 shares); Manager, Treasury Operations, Ogunsola Olusegun Samson (10,896); Senior Manager, Regulatory Affairs, Oyewo Johnson (26,251 shares) and Senior Manager, Investor Relations, Nwaokoma Chimaobi (37,490 shares).

How share MTN vesting works

The compensation move aligns with share schemes introduced by MTN Nigeria in 2022 when the telco announced that its Performance Share Plan (PSP) and Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP) would replace an old scheme called Notional Plan Option.

The PSP is a conditional offer, which gifts ordinary shares to the members of the management team, allowing qualified staff members to receive a particular number of shares.

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According to the company’s earnings report for the nine months to September 2022, “The vesting period for the PSP is three years and the awards vest in full based on set performance targets. Employees are not entitled to receive dividends on the shares during the vesting period.”

Meanwhile, ESOP is conceived by MTN Nigeria as a one-off share award to eligible employees not belonging to the management cadre at no cost to such staff. ESOP is not tied to company performance.

The shares are divided into three parts: the first part is vested after three years, the second after four years and the final part after five years from the grant date, according to the financial report.