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Home Telecommunications

MTN’s High-Pay Surge Reflects Nigeria’s Intensifying Talent War

byChidi Okoye
February 27, 2026
in Telecommunications, Business, Insights
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MTN Nigeria nearly doubled the number of employees earning at least ₦2.4 million monthly in 2025, a strategic compensation shift that underscores the intense competition for specialised skills in an economy grappling with inflation and persistent talent flight. According to the company’s full-year financial report, staff in the highest salary band rose to 659, a 97.3 percent jump from 334 in 2024, despite only modest overall headcount growth from 1,912 to 2,001 employees. The restructuring signals a deliberate concentration of resources on high-value roles in network operations, digital services, artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, and customer experience as MTN fortifies its position in a fiercely competitive labour market.

The sharp rise in top-tier compensation reflects multiple structural pressures. Nigeria’s inflation rate, which peaked above 30 percent in late 2024 and remained elevated through 2025, has significantly eroded purchasing power, forcing employers to introduce inflation allowances and broad-based salary reviews, in some cases exceeding 50 percent, to stabilise workforces. Simultaneously, the “Japa” phenomenon—the emigration of skilled professionals seeking better opportunities abroad—continues to drain Nigeria’s talent pool. A 2024 report by Boston Consulting Group and partners found that 64 percent of Nigerian professionals actively seek jobs overseas, compared with a global average of 23 percent, intensifying competition for engineers and developers skilled in 5G, cybersecurity, and cloud computing.

The compensation redistribution came at the expense of mid-tier salary bands. Employees earning between ₦14.5 million and ₦17.5 million annually dropped sharply by 70 percent to 126, while those earning between ₦19.5 million and ₦24.5 million annually declined by nearly 50 percent to 293. This suggests a restructuring of MTN’s pay pyramid through promotions, salary upgrades, and role reclassifications that shifted employees into the upper bracket rather than expanding overall headcount. The strategy reflects an intensifying battle for scarce technical and managerial talent, with telecom operators competing not only among themselves but also with fintechs, banks, and foreign employers offering remote or relocation opportunities.

MTN has long positioned itself as one of Nigeria’s highest-paying employers. As of 2024, more than 84 percent of its workforce earned at least ₦1 million monthly, with entry-level compensation significantly above national averages. The company has integrated retention tools including an Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP) and enhanced performance-based incentives to complement competitive salaries. These mechanisms are designed to create long-term alignment between employee interests and corporate performance, reducing attrition risk in a volatile labour market.

This focus on compensation has been reinforced by improved industry fundamentals. After posting losses in 2024 due to steep foreign exchange devaluation, telecom operators secured regulatory approval for a 50 percent tariff increase in early 2025, boosting service revenues and overall profitability. MTN Nigeria’s 2025 results reflect this recovery, with service revenue surging 55.1 percent year-on-year to ₦5.2 trillion and total revenue rising 54.9 percent from ₦3.36 trillion. Growth was driven by strong performance across data, voice, fintech, and digital services, creating the financial capacity to sustain higher wage bills and reward top performers.

For Nigeria’s broader economy, MTN’s compensation strategy carries multiple implications. It demonstrates that successful companies can absorb inflationary pressures and compete for talent through productivity gains rather than simply passing costs to consumers. It signals to the labour market that specialised skills command premium compensation, potentially influencing educational and career choices among young Nigerians. It also highlights the concentration of high-value employment in a relatively small number of firms, underscoring the need for broader economic diversification to create quality jobs at scale.

The talent war reflected in MTN’s pay structure extends beyond telecommunications. Banks, fintechs, multinational corporations, and remote employers are all competing for the same limited pool of software engineers, data scientists, and digital marketers. This competition drives up compensation but also creates incentives for continuous skills development and professional growth. For employees, the dynamic offers unprecedented opportunities for income growth and career mobility. For employers, it demands continuous attention to retention strategies and organisational culture.

The “Japa” phenomenon adds urgency to these dynamics. When skilled professionals emigrate, they take with them years of training and experience that Nigeria has subsidised. Competitive local compensation, combined with career development opportunities and quality of life considerations, can reduce emigration pressure by making staying more attractive than leaving. MTN’s aggressive pay strategy is therefore not merely a corporate decision but a contribution to human capital retention at national scale.

The restructuring also reflects broader shifts in how value is created in the Nigerian economy. As services, technology, and digital platforms become increasingly central to economic activity, the skills required to operate and innovate in these sectors command premium compensation. MTN’s investment in high-value roles positions it to capture emerging opportunities in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and advanced digital services, sectors where Nigeria has potential to compete regionally and globally.

For policymakers, the trend underscores the importance of education and training systems that produce graduates with skills matching industry demand. It also highlights the need for economic policies that enable productive firms to grow and create quality employment, rather than concentrating opportunity in a narrow segment of the economy. MTN’s compensation strategy is a market response to underlying structural conditions; replicating its benefits more broadly requires addressing those conditions at systemic level.

Tags: Digital EconomyEmployee RetentionHuman capitalInflationJapa PhenomenonKarl ToriolaMTN NigeriaSalary StructureTalent WarTelecommunications
Chidi Okoye

Chidi Okoye

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