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MTN Nigeria’s Ikenna Ikeme elevated to MTN Group regulatory affairs – Technology Times
MTN Nigeria regulatory affairs chief, Ikenna Ikeme, has been appointed Executive: Group Regulatory Affairs at MTN Group, placing the Nigerian telecoms regulatory specialist at the centre of the group’s regulatory agenda across its African markets.
MTN Group announced today in a statement seen by Technology Times that Ikeme will assume the new role on September 7, 2026, as the telecoms group strengthens its executive leadership to support the execution of its Ambition 2030 strategy.
With more than 30 years of experience spanning telecommunications, banking and insurance, Ikeme brings extensive expertise in regulatory affairs, public policy, compliance, stakeholder engagement and business transformation to the group-level position.
He currently serves as General Manager: Regulatory Affairs at MTN Nigeria and is recognised as one of Nigeria’s leading telecommunications regulatory professionals.
During his career, Ikeme has led and supported a range of landmark industry initiatives, including regulatory approvals for spectrum transactions, national roaming arrangements, 5G licensing, infrastructure sharing and mobile virtual network operator partnerships.
He has also played a key role in shaping regulatory frameworks designed to enable industry growth while safeguarding the interests of consumers and other stakeholders.
Ikenna Ikeme takes group regulatory mandate
In his new role, Ikeme will provide strategic leadership across MTN Group’s regulatory agenda, working closely with the Group Legal and Regulatory Affairs office and teams across MTN’s markets.
His responsibilities will include strengthening regulatory governance, managing regulatory risks, driving policy advocacy, supporting strategic business initiatives, and fostering strong relationships with regulators and key stakeholders.
The appointment comes as MTN operates across an increasingly dynamic and competitive regulatory environment in Africa, where issues including spectrum, infrastructure sharing, market competition, digital services and consumer protection remain critical to telecoms growth.
Ikeme’s experience in Nigeria gives him exposure to several of these regulatory issues, including the approval and implementation of major industry initiatives involving spectrum transactions, 5G, national roaming, infrastructure sharing and mobile virtual network operators.
MTN Group said the appointment would strengthen its regulatory leadership and bring further depth and experience to its efforts to navigate the evolving operational and regulatory landscape across Africa.
From MTN Nigeria to group leadership
Ikeme’s elevation follows his tenure leading regulatory affairs at MTN Nigeria, one of the group’s most important operating companies.
His career spans more than three decades across three sectors, telecommunications, banking and insurance, giving him experience in regulatory environments extending beyond the communications industry.
An accomplished legal and business professional, Ikeme holds an MBA from Enugu State University of Science and Technology.
He is also a qualified Barrister-at-Law, has completed the Advanced Management Programme at MIT Sloan School of Management, and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (Europe).
His new group-level mandate will require him to work across MTN’s operating markets while coordinating with regulators, policymakers and other stakeholders to manage regulatory risks and support the group’s strategic priorities.
MTN appoints Francophone markets operations chief
Alongside Ikeme’s appointment, MTN Group has announced the appointment of Ashutosh Tiwary as Operations Executive: Francophone Markets, effective September 1, 2026.
Tiwary brings more than 27 years of telecommunications leadership experience spanning Africa and India, with a track record in growth, transformation, operational excellence and business turnarounds across diverse and competitive markets.
He has held several executive leadership roles within MTN, starting in South Africa as GM: Prepaid Consumer Business, where he played a crucial role in stabilising and growing the prepaid consumer business.
He was later appointed Acting CEO of MTN Guinea Bissau, where he successfully delivered on the executive mandate of turning around the business and subsequently helped with the portfolio optimisation strategy that led to the eventual sale of the business.
In his most recent assignment as GM: Customer Operations, Tiwary worked with the MTN Group Home Broadband Business team to build and scale customer operations through operational excellence programmes.
In his new role, Tiwary will serve as a strategic and operational lead for MTN’s Francophone markets, supporting strategic priorities, driving operational and commercial excellence, strengthening governance and enabling sustainable growth across Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin and Congo Brazzaville.
He will also work closely with Opco leadership teams to ensure alignment with Group priorities while supporting high-performance execution across the region.
MTN said Tiwary’s extensive leadership experience, deep understanding of African telecoms markets and proven ability to drive transformation and performance position him to support the continued growth and success of the group’s Francophone operations.
The appointments of Tiwary and Ikeme, according to the telecoms group, strengthen MTN Group’s operations and regulatory leadership as the company continues to execute its Ambition 2030 strategy and navigate an increasingly dynamic and competitive operational and regulatory landscape across Africa.
Politics in Benue is usually very interesting and this is more so because, often than not, it is always treated like a race for immediate applause instead of lasting legacies.
On that strength, every administration wants quick projects, loud ribbons cutting ceremonies and visible but ephemeral promises. However and sadly, real development takes time and this is because a house is not built by painting the walls before laying the foundation, but this is the situation we were witnessing in Benue before the coming of Governor Alia.
That is why the argument for Governor Hyacinth Alia in 2027 deserves serious consideration. An administration that deserves one term to figure out the real problem, lay the foundation, and another to build on the foundation laid.
Governor Alia took over the reins of Benue State at a really difficult moment, having been handed a state that was bleeding, a state was in hemorrhaging. Before the coming of Alia, Benue faced insecurity, unpaid obligations, weak institutions, youth unemployment and a struggling economy.
These problems are not going to disappear because Alia simply wishes them to disappear; they won’t disappear through one budget or one political season. They require patience, discipline and continuity in commitment.
Every administration’s first term should be judged by the problems it met, the foundation it creates. Pertinent questions should include – are public finances becoming more transparent? Are workers paid more regularly? Are schools receiving attention? Are hospitals better equipped? Are roads being repaired in a way that connects farmers to markets? Is security being handled with greater seriousness instead of media theatrics?
A farmer in Mbagwaza needs a motorable road to move cassava to either Ihugh, Lessel or Adikpo. A trader in Agila needs a safer route to Igumale, another trader from Gbajimba needs a good road to Makurdi to reach customers. A student in Vandeikya needs a functioning classroom, not another abandoned school project. A mother in Obi needs a health centre where basic treatment is available without travelling for hours.
Such changes may not produce instant excitement, but they create the structure on which lasting progress stands. This is the path the governor is on.
The first four years should therefore be about putting systems in place – restoring confidence in government, strengthening local administration, supporting agriculture, improving security and opening the economy to private investment.
The second term would then provide the time to expand these efforts, complete unfinished projects and turn early reforms into measurable results.
Benue cannot afford to keep starting afresh every four years because people are ambitious to prove a point that has no need to be proven.
Each new government should not spend its first year discovering what the previous one already knew. Continuity should not mean researching what is already known to the current administration. It should mean giving credible policies enough time to mature while holding the government accountable.
If Alia’s administration is laying the foundation, the people must ask one simple question – is the work moving Benue forward? And the answer on the lips of the people of Benue is Yes, Benue is moving from negative to positive, a fact even the opposition are not in denial.
Sir Tersoo Kula, mnipr
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor.
Tersoo Kula: Benue 2027 for Alia – One term to lay the foundation, another to build
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has arrested an 83-year-old woman, Mrs Uloma Uchechi Sunday, with consignments of methamphetamine and Colorado in Abia State, barely a year after she was prosecuted and convicted for a similar offence.
Uloma was arrested on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at her residence in Ite-Uzo, Umuaguma, Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State.
A statement by the NDLEA said quantities of methamphetamine and Colorado were found tied around her waist with a wrapper during the operation.
Her arrest followed credible intelligence that she was operating a drug joint where criminal elements who terrorise residents of the community allegedly gathered.
The 83-year-old had previously been arrested by NDLEA operatives on May 17, 2025, at the same residence, alongside her 32-year-old daughter, Chisom Uchechi.
During that operation, the agency recovered 50 grams of methamphetamine, 522 grams of skunk, 260 grams of fresh cannabis leaves and 12 grams of tramadol.
The two women pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 12 months in prison or a fine of N200,000 each. They paid the fines and were released by the court.
“Undeterred, the notorious old woman promptly returned to the criminal trade and escalated the scale by setting up a drug joint where she harbours dangerous characters,” the statement said.
In another operation at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Rivers State, NDLEA operatives, working with the Nigeria Customs Service, arrested a South African woman, Gebashe Sithandiwe Jessie.
She was arrested with 30 parcels of Thai Loud, a species of cannabis, weighing 32.74kg.
The drugs were concealed in two travelling bags.
The suspect had travelled from Thailand through Doha on Qatar Airways flight QR1431.
According to the NDLEA, she confessed to having previously trafficked drugs through other African countries and was expanding her route to Port Harcourt when she was arrested.
At the Import Shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA operatives also intercepted a consignment of nine7 cartons from Pakistan aboard a Royal Air Maroc flight.
The cargo was placed under surveillance after it arrived on September 29.
A joint examination of the shipment on Tuesday, October 6, led to the discovery of 354,000 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg weighing 307.20kg.
In another operation at the Lagos airport, the agency intercepted a consolidated cargo from the United Kingdom after it arrived on September 29.
Six Ghana-Must-Go bags in the consignment were found to contain 70 parcels of Colorado, a synthetic cannabinoid, weighing 75.90kg.
A clearing agent, John Edrah, 54, was the first suspect arrested in connection with the seizure on September 30.
He was followed by Taofiq Ajibola, 54, an Uber driver, who was arrested while collecting one of the bags at a logistics company in the Mafoluku area of Oshodi.
Adetunji Adebayo and Kazeem Damola Dosunmu, 48, a clothing trader, were later arrested when they came to collect the remaining five bags.
The NDLEA said Ajibola stated that the drugs were sent by a UK-based associate, Lukman Sa’idu, while Dosunmu said his consignments came from another UK-based man identified as Yusuf.
In Cross River State, NDLEA officers, following surveillance, raided Iyala Nkun village in Ikom Local Government Area on Sunday, October 4.
The operation led to the arrest of Adama Inuwa, 46, with 181 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 1,100kg and 17.15kg of cannabis seeds.
In Edo State, NDLEA operatives intercepted a black Toyota Camry at Otuo, Owan East Local Government Area, on Monday, October 5.
The vehicle was found to be carrying 1,049 blocks of compressed cannabis weighing 702.83kg.
Monday Orji, 52, Monday Lawal, 40, and Precious Uduegele, 20, were arrested in connection with the seizure.
In a separate raid at Asoro, off Sakponba Road, Benin City, NDLEA operatives arrested Ojugo Mercy, 26, with 989 grams of Loud, 13 grams of Colorado and 83 grams of methamphetamine.
In Ondo State, a 21-year-old suspect, Happy Endurance, was trailed to her hideout in the Shasha area of Akure on Monday, October 5, where NDLEA operatives recovered 29 bags of cannabis weighing 290kg.
On the same day, officers raided an apartment at Oba-Ile, Akure, leading to the arrest of Tunde Adebayo, 42, with 35 bags of the same psychoactive substance weighing 351kg.
In Taraba State, NDLEA operatives, supported by soldiers, arrested Abdulrasheed Mohamed, 31, and Abubakar Saidu, 37, at Chanchanji village in Wukari Local Government Area on Friday, October 9.
The suspects were found with 166,200 tablets of Tramadol 225mg weighing 107kg.
Also on Friday, NDLEA officers conducting a stop-and-search operation along the Kano-Maiduguri road in Kano State arrested Yahaya Musa, 32.
He was found with 24,990 capsules of Tramadol, 50,000 tablets of Diazepam and 22,000 tablets of Exol-5.
In Kaduna State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Zaria-Kaduna Expressway arrested Mohammed Musa, 29, with 31 jumbo bags of skunk and 775 blocks of the same substance.
The drugs had a combined weight of 1,027kg.
In Lagos, a suspect, Musbau Balogun Adekunle, was arrested in Orile on Tuesday, October 6, with 32.51kg of skunk and 52.65kg of its seeds, bringing the total weight to 85.16kg.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives also recovered assorted rifles and ammunition during a raid on the residence of 45-year-old Christian Chukwudi Uju at Rukuba Road, Jos, Plateau State, on Thursday, October 8.
The items recovered from him included 47 grams of methamphetamine, two pump-action rifles, one locally made gun, 199 live cartridges, five rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and one round of 9mm ammunition.
83-year-old woman arrested with meth, Colorado as NDLEA seizes drugs nationwide
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