The Federal Government has ordered mobile telecommunications operator, MTN, to pay back taxes of $2 billion.
This comes just days after the government ordered it to repatriate $8.13 billion it made as unauthorized dividend payments.
MTN made this known on Tuesday in a brief statement to the market in which it confirmed that Nigeria’s attorney general gave “notice of an intention to recover the $2 billion (1.73 billion euros) from MTN Nigeria”.
“Based on the detailed review performed, MTN Nigeria believes it has fully settled all amounts owing under the taxes in question,” said the company.
News of the unexpected tax bill sent MTN shares tumbling by as much as 7.5 percent to an almost 10-year low.
This is the latest challenge to hit MTN since it began operations in Nigeria 17 years ago.
The company was fined $5.2 billion in 2015 by Nigeria’s telecoms regulator for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM cards on its network.
The fine was later reduced to $1.7 billion after a series of negotiations with the Nigerian government.
