The planned public listing of the shares of MTN Nigeria on the Nigerian Stock Exchange offers both institutional and individual investors the opportunity to get a slice of the telecommunications firm that has 62 million subscribers, the company has said.

The Deputy Head, Mergers and Acquisitions, MTN Group, Kholekile Ndamese, who led a team from Nigeria and South Africa, said this when they met with Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, in Abuja on Friday.

Ndamese said he was in Nigeria as part of the company’s consultation and engagement with stakeholders prior to the listing of its shares on the floor of the Exchange.

He explained that the listing of the stock would be one of the largest listings undertaken in the continent as well as by the company.

According to him, the venture will also showcase Nigeria to the world as well as attract other investors to the country.

Through the listing, he added that subscribers to the MTN network and other investors would have the opportunity to own part of the company.

Ndamese stated, “We will like to do the transaction process through digital form to enable Nigerian people apply online in a manner that will be safe. It will be the first in Africa to use the digital format unlike paper process used in other African countries.

“It is a kind of Nigeria showing leadership to the rest of Africa. We have been engaging the regulators and key stakeholders. That is why we are consulting all the ministries.”

Responding, Onu challenged MTN Nigeria to invest in local research and innovation in order to remain globally competitive.

The minister regretted that the economies of African countries were still hinged on the production of raw materials, adding that it was through research and innovation that the continent could break away from the shackles of underdevelopment.

He said, “I want a situation where MTN Nigeria will start investing in research and come up with innovations to support the MTN Group in order to be  competitive in the world, because it will have difficulties to compete without research.