26 Mar 2004 |
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Friday, March 26 2004 By Reuben Abati I was invited recently to participate in a telecom roundtable in Lagos. My assignment was to offer, as part of the discussions, "the consumer's perspective". Which was easy. Everyone knows that the Nigerian consumer has a strong, varied and interesting perspective as to how the telecom industry should be organised either in terms of quality of service, or tariffs, or customer care. But in the course of preparing my notes for the presentation, I came upon a realisation which I think should be specially highlighted for the attention of both the National Communications Commission (NCC) and other stakeholders. It is the large number of expatriates dominating the industry, and occupying strategic positions. Nearly every telecom company advertises itself as a truly indigenous, Nigerian company, with a special interest in the promotion of local people, areas and talent. The companies that are owned by Nigerians, or which have Nigerians as Chairmen are usually more forthcoming with this hype about being Nigerian. In reality however, the people who call the shots, the heart, tone, and tenor of the operation, belong to the expatriates. The domination of this industry by expatriates is easily explained away on three grounds. The first is that the Nigerian telecom industry is relatively new, and as such, there is the absence of quality local manpower with the required expertise in telecom technology. To build local expertise, to transfer technological skills in telecom development, the only convenient starting point is therefore bound to be the engagement of expatriate staff, who can in due course, teach local engineers and scientists, the tricks of the industry. It is for this reason, that technical operations are currently in many of the companies, under the control of expatriate engineers and experts. The second explanation is that many of these companies are being operated on the basis of partnerships between Nigerian interests, and foreign investors as part of the fulfillment of the Nigerian government's privatisation and enterprise promotion agenda. If foreign investors have a strong equity in a business, it is only fair to expect that they would want their own people represented in the day-to-day operation to protect their interests. To ask that this should not be the case would be contrary to all known norms of business partnerships. The third excuse is that the telecom industry is a cost-intensive and volatile business requiring careful nurturing and management. Nigerians do not have a dependable track-record as managers, or as loyal guardians of resources. It is therefore argued that it is safer to bring in foreigners who are more likely to show greater commitment. And if Nigerians must be involved, it is better to restrict them to the less sensitive areas of operation where they can hardly do any serious damage. Taken together, these three explanations are invariably comments on Nigeria's business culture and environment and our level of telecom development. eezeebee: I'm glad Reuben called this third one an EXCUSE. Our premise can be easily illustrated. A rough census of the telecom industry reveals that in nearly all the companies, the emerging practice is to reserve the positions of Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Finance Director and similar positions for expatriates. At MTN, which perhaps has a much better record of encouraging local talent and experience, the Managing Director (Adrian Wood); Executive Director, Corporate Affairs, (Felleng Sekha-Molusi) and the Finance Director are all expatriates. The story is the same at ECONET where until recently, the Managing Director was a South African. The position is only being held in an acting capacity by a Nigerian, presumably until his "interim government" is displaced after the completion of the VODACOM take-over process. At NITEL which many Nigerians would readily identify with, the CEO is Mr. Rein Zwolsman, while the Chief Technical Officer is yet another expatriate - Geert Van Ejik. NITEL's M-TEL is managed by a Dutch company - Pentascope, and its CEO is one Mr. Aad Loois. Danisat, the company that promotes Thuraya phones is headed by Mr. Peter Post. The Managing Director of Hyperia, an internet service provider is Marcel Karam. RTB Telecom Ltd. is headed by Jorn Nielsen, Danimax Nigeria - until recently by Torsten Schwenke who has now moved on, Harris Corporation by Peter Yap, a Japanese American; Starcomms is headed by Mr. Dirk Smet. Chief Annie Okonkwo's Reliance Telecommunications (RelTel) is readily promoted as a fine example of indigenous entrepreneurship but for any or all of the three reasons earlier identified, the company was initially run by an Ethiopian Managing Director, Bakele Tadese until he fell out with Annie Okonkwo (the new MD, a Nigerian is in acting capacity - Tony Okonkwo); in charge of RelTel Marketing is Mr. Rakesh Kaul; the Chief Technical Officer is also an expatriate. Multi-links is headed and run by Indians; General Telecom where Ernest Ndukwe used to work - by Karl Teller, DOPC - by Sandeep Jayaswal, an Indian, ACCAT by Peter Sinnott, a British and GS Telecom -by Steve Chapman. But even more interesting is the example of Globacom, the GSM company that can be easily described as completely indigenous in terms of its ownership. But apart from Otunba Michael Adenuga's son, Paddy Adenuga who speaks for the company in public, the main operation, including marketing, is conveniently under the control of expatriates. In addition to this, is the large population of expatriate engineers and consultants who man various aspects of the telecom industry. Why am I raising an alarm What we may be faced with, I am afraid, is a re-enactment in the telecom industry of the kind of discrimination against local labour which exists in other sectors of the Nigerian economy. The multi-national oil companies are particularly notorious in this regard, so much that on at least two occasions in the last two years, the Federal Government has had to direct these companies to reserve certain key positions, in their top management hierarchy for Nigerians. They have also been asked to ensure local content in their sourcing of lower-level labour, and materials, there is even before the National Assembly, a bill seeking to turn these directives into law. It is called the "Nigerian Content Development Bill". Would there be, someday, in the future, the emergence of Nigerian MDs of the upstream sector in the extractive industry Beyond this sector of the economy, there seems to be, in many companies with foreign connections, a ceiling beyond which local staff cannot aspire. Hence, the Finance Director and Managing Director of Guinness, Siemens, etc are expatriates; in DHL, the CEO, Operations Manager, and National Sales Manager are always expatriates. In other companies, the effect is not just the restriction of career ceiling for Nigerian, but the abuse of expatriate quota, capital flight, and anti-Nigerian business practices. There are companies in Nigeria which would rather import raw materials from abroad, instead of developing a raw material base in the country. In the construction industry, carpenters, machinists, cooks are sometimes imported from Germany, Italy, South Africa, and paid by the companies as expatriates. I once went to service my car at a garage run by expatriates, operating in Nigeria. When it was time to settle the bill, I was directed to the Finance Department. It was a Nigerian that attended to me; he issued a receipt but when I brought out cash, he promptly directed me to an expatriate sitting nearby, keeping an eye on him. His only job, the Nigerian explained, was to write receipts. He is not allowed to touch cash! I felt scandalised. Why on earth would a company import a cashier all the way from Korea when there are millions of Nigerians who can do the job Why wouldn't a Nigerian be allowed to manage the cash till in his own country? It becomes even more disturbing when Nigerian entrepreneurs deliberately undervalue their own compatriots. They are the ones who promote the impression that Nigerians cannot be trusted. There are Nigerian investors who would never appoint a Nigerian as a Finance Director in any of their companies. There are Nigerian big men who are served by Filipino cooks and English Secretaries! The increasingly convenient excuse that is offered is that we are in the age of globalisation. Labour has become increasingly competitive and mobile, and investors should be allowed the right to appoint whoever they deem fit, and not be blackmailed with hollow calls for patriotism. The various telecom companies have Nigerians as Chairmen of their boards, but it remains to be seen whether these chairmen, as a matter of principle, use their positions to protect the interest of local labour. I assume that it is not necessarily true that there are no enough Nigerians with quality expertise in telecom technology. The brilliant performance of some of the MTN local staff in charge of technical services and base stations has shown the great potential which the telecom phenomenon is activating. Serious countries introduce policies and mechanisms for protecting the long-term interests of local labour. In South-East Asia, the various countries, especially Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, insist on opportunities for local talent. Even in their multinational companies, the governments insist that expatriates should contribute expertise only as required in technical areas, while management should have a local face. In Nigeria, government continuously sends the wrong signals. If President Obasanjo could help it, he would have appointed expatriates as Special Advisers and Ministers. During COJA 2003, the Nigerian government imported cooks from South Africa! The explanation that the current domination of the telecom industry by expatriates is a short-term measure may not necessarily be true, unless we begin to raise an alarm now. Multinationals operating in Nigeria have always made such promises but they have not moved a step further. Talks about business opportunities in Nigeria are not often matched by a commitment to the growth and long-term promotion of local enterprise and expertise. In the extractive industry, as well as the textile sector, Nigerian experts, even those with more quality experience and proven competence than the expatriates have had cause to complain quietly about the humiliation they suffer. Expatriate staff with low competence margins receive better remuneration, and enjoy privileges, while the local man does the job! In the textile sector, Nigerians are treated in a manner worse than slavery. The Nigerians in this situation are unable to complain loudly because of the risk involved: they could be sacked, and thrown into the uncertain world outside. The Nigerian employee is an unlucky victim of the scarcity of opportunities in the land of his birth. eezeebee: this, then, is the urgent task: creating opportunities in Nigeria and being UNAFRAID to see others GET RICH! Enough of the "I must be the big man here approach!" Others can be big wo/men, bigger than me! What do I care as long as my needs are met? Still, I should like to see in the nearest future, MTN, Starcomms, ECONET, M-Tel etc. headed by Nigerian CEOs and Finance Directors. In many industries, it is only when the company is breaking up that a Nigerian is hurriedly appointed beyond the ceiling, to manage the crisis, and take the blame for the company's failures. This should not be allowed to happen in the telecom industry. The NCC should provide necessary regulations, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs should begin to take an interest in the abuse of the expatriate quota in various sectors of the economy. As for the assumption that Nigerians cannot be trusted, even by their own compatriots in business, the point does not necessarily follow the fact. The various Nigerians who sit atop these companies as Chairmen should see themselves as advocates for the kind of value that can be added to Nigerian life and society.
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