Airtel will soon join MTN Nigeria at the Nigerian Stock Exchange if it gets approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Political Economist can authoritatively report.

A top source at Airtel, gushing with excitement at the prospects of listing as a public limited company in Nigeria, said “we are almost there. We’ve written the CBN as part of the preparations for listing and as soon as we get approval from the apex bank, we would be going to the stock market.”

The source commended the leadership of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for providing “robust regulation which has helped the telcos in the country to withstand the harsh economic times.”

Airtel which last year rolled out its flagship 4G LTE said it is determined to maintain its position as “the largest and the fastest of the 4G network in Nigeria”.

Airtel Managing Director, Segun Ogunsanya, who had described his organisation as the most modern communication network in Nigeria, said he was proud that the network “works all the time”.

“4G comes with tons of benefits: it will accelerate economic and commercial activities; it will boost personal and professional productivity; it will help in creating more entrepreneurs,” he said.

Meanwhile trading on the Nigerian equities market opened for the week on Monday with a loss of 2.22 per cent, following declining investors’ appetite on MTN Nigeria Communications shares. This was contrary to the positive buzz created by MTN when it first listed, shooting up market volume and capitalization.

On Monday, market capitalisation dipped N302 billion or 2.22 per cent to close at N13.299 trillion against N13.601 trillion achieved on Friday.

The drop in market indices was due to losses posted by MTN Nigeria Communications and Dangote Cement.
Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 30,881.29 shed 686.58 points or 2.22 per cent to close at 30,194.71.
MTN Nigeria Communications recorded the highest loss, shedding N10 to close at N130 per share.

Market analysts attributed MTN Nigeria loss to controversy trailing the company since it listed on May 16.
MTN Nigeria Communications on May 25 said that it was being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over listing of its shares on the NSE.

The company stated this in a statement posted on the exchange website signed by its Company Secretary, Uto Ukpanah.
The statement said that the company received a letter on May 23, from EFCC requesting information and documentation related to the listing of its shares on the NSE.

“MTN Nigeria has not been accused of any wrong doing by the EFCC. We wish to reiterate that we received all regulatory approvals required to list our shares on the NSE, as publicly confirmed by NSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)”.

“As a law abiding and responsible corporate citizen, we are cooperating fully with the authorities. We are committed to good governance and to abiding by the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” said the statement.