CBN, MTN Getting Closer to Settlement, Says FG

The Central Bank of Nigeria and MTN Nigeria may soon strike a deal in their dispute over the repatriation of $8.1 billion, Information Minister, Lai Mohammed said on Wednesday.

The central bank says MTN transferred $8.1 billion of funds out of Nigeria in breach of foreign-exchange regulations. Nigeria, which accounts for a third of the South African company’s annual core profit, is MTN’s biggest market.

“I am sure there will be a settlement and I believe they are getting closer to resolving it,” Mohammed told Reuters during a visit to London.

“They are ‘businessmen’ and they are going to resolve it… it is in the interest of all the parties that this matter will be resolved,” he said, declining to give any further details.