TV Show 'Who Wants T Be A Millionaire' Suspended As MTN Stops Sponsorship

Popular TV game show sponsored by MTN, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, will be going off air indefinitely.

The suspension of the programme was announced in a series of tweets on the show’s official Twitter page,@WWTBAM.

“Goodbyes are tough, aren’t they?@frankedoho ‘s final words as#WWTBAM begins a hiatus today is filled with so much emotions,” the tweet reads.

“Unfortunately, tonight’s episode is our last- for now. #WWTBAM is going on a temporal break.”

Although no explanation was provided for the suspension, it was gathered that the telecommunications giant, MTN, pulled of sponsorship.

MTN recently ​disengaged 280 of its employees in Nigeria​.

In April, the company, which incurred wrath of the Nigerian government in 2016 for selling unregistered sims, paid additional N30bn fine.

By Wale Odunsi

Workers Day Misery: MTN Sacks 280 Employees

Telecommunications giant, MTN has disengaged 280 of its employees in Nigeria​.

​Staff​affected include some 200 permanent employees and about 80 contract staff across various cadres, ranging from new graduates to senior managers‎​.

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Many had 15 years with the company having joined MT​N after it opened office in ​Nigeria in 2001.

​It was gathered that workers were given a​ ​severance of 75% of their gross monthly income multiplied by the number of years with the company.

“Given that the company is about 16 years old in Nigeria, the severance package brought pain and discontent among the affected staff,” a source told Premium Times.

“With the payoff structure, senior managers with 15 years of service were left with about N15 million. Most of the staff got less than N5 million.”

The source said the company introduced the voluntary severance scheme, VSS, to provide a window for one week in April, for persons who have served in MTN for five years and above to take up.

Th​e 280 who ​decided to leave under the VSS were to be paid the equivalent of their three weeks gross salary for every year they worked with MTN.

“What it means is that if one worked in MTN for five years, one would be paid three weeks of their gross salaries times five,” the source added.

MTN, a few weeks ago, paidadditional N30bn fine to Nigerian government.

By Wale Odunsi

We Have Not Increased The Prices Of Recharge Cards - MTN

MTN Nigeria has told its subscribers not to pay more than the amount printed on any of their recharge cards.

The telecommunication’s Public Relations and Protocol Manager, Mr Funso Aina, said in a statement on Friday in Lagos that MTN had not increased prices of recharge cards.

“MTN Nigeria hereby use this medium to inform all its subscribers that it has not increased the prices of recharge cards.

“The cost of recharge cards remain the face value stated on the physical vouchers.

“Any increment from any quarters across the country on our recharge cards is without our knowledge,” Aina said.

He also stated that MTN was taking steps, to ensure that its trade partners and retailers adhere to the uniformity in prices.

“While we are working assiduously to resolve claims of illegal increases, we apologise to our customers for any inconvenience this might have caused.

“Alternatively, we advise our customers to explore other options of purchasing airtime such as MTN Virtual Top Up (VTU), Diamond Yello Account (DYA) or MTN Auto Top-up,” Aina added.

By Ifreke Inyang