LAGOS – The Board of Directors of 9mobile has responded to what it described as “myriad of false, misleading, and malicious media reports currently in circulation” courtesy of Adrian Wood, Chief Executive Officer of Teleology Holdings Limited.
In a statement made available to Prompt News Online, the Board posited that “While every partner in the consortium (Teleology Nigeria Limited ) was delivering and meeting their obligations to the partnership in terms of financial resources, physical availability for crucial meetings and extensive network to help build the business, Mr. Adrian Wood’s Teleology Holdings Limited, which only owned a minority stake in Teleology Nigeria Limited, failed severally and wholly to meet theirs.”
According to the Director, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs at 9mobile, Oluseyi Osunsedo, “Mr. Wood was not personally present for all the critical presentations made by the consortium during the bid process and failed abjectly with his financing arrangements with Swiss-based UBS Bank. In all these failings, other partners in the consortium filled the gap and pushed ahead until the sale was completed.”
He noted that despite the fact that Woods’ Teleology Holdings did not meet its obligations, the Board of 9mobile has revived and enhanced relationships with key vendors and core business accounts; improved business relationships with suppliers; enhanced its core network capabilities to deliver network efficiency competitively with other operators.
“With the assistance of leading global consultants, the company is also undertaking a complete review of its operational, regulatory, financial and technical architecture. On these basis, 9mobile has emerged from a period of uncertainty over the past two years to attain an active subscriber base of 16 million, representing a net increase of over 1 million subscribers in the last 6 weeks alone.
“The company’s core strategy in the short to medium term shall be underpinned by cost efficiency, innovative product development, network efficiency and strategic technical partnerships.
“We believe that this approach towards organic growth is more sustainable in building a strong Nigerian telecom operator, which taps into the deep technical expertise of the Nigerian labour force than an approach motivated by short-term financial gain advocated by Mr. Wood and his associates,” Osunsedo’s statement reads.
However, he says “It is regrettable that Mr. Wood has allowed the same avarice, rascality, impatience and knavery that characterized his turbulent association with, and inglorious exits from several other companies to manifest again so early in 9mobile.”
Prompt News Online recalls that 9mobile was acquired by Teleology Nigeria Limited, following an internationally competitive and exhaustive bidding process led by Barclays Africa, with participation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) and 13 Nigerian banks including GT Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and others.
The process was concluded with the initial deposit of $50 million and a further payment of $251 million as settlement to the banks who took over the company.
