ZTE Nigeria, a Chinese telecommunications company
operating in Nigeria, says it has faith in the most
populous black nation, despite the current economic
crisis.

Yawei Yang, the company’s head of administration,
said this in Lagos at the weekend.

She expressed ZTE’s commitment to continue to
invest in the economy and in the development of local
human capital.

Yang said the company, which started operations in
2002, has hundreds of direct and indirect Nigerian
employees.

She added that ZTE has had a positive impact on the
Nigerian economy.

“We recognise the current situation in Nigeria but we
are going to maintain our high standard in terms of
service delivery and out commitment to good welfare
package for our staff,” Yang said.

“We, however, have faith in the resilience of this
country and her people and will continue to do our
part to ensure a return of boom in the Nigerian
telecoms industry.

“We are among the few telecom companies that allow
all our staff to unionise. We have generous welfare
packages that include training and sundry allowances,
mobile phone allowance, because of our belief in the
development of the local workforce.

“We have not outsourced any of our operations
outside Nigeria as some telecoms firms are currently
doing to cut costs.

“Only 17 percent of our entire workforce are foreigners
and we have always operated within the ambit of the
extant Immigration laws and regulations of Nigeria
2015 and all other administrative directives.”

Responding to the allegation that the company

recently flouted expatriate quota limit, Yang said: “It is
true that our ZTE China staff routinely visit Nigeria on
business visa as support group for discussions with
telecommunication operators to enable us have good
business prospects leading to signing of agreements
which unfortunately have not been successful since
2014.

“It is the practice and this is for most foreign
companies operating in Nigeria that those coming for
such business discussions come with business visas
because that is just for short visit and it is allowed
under the law.

“They only come around when we have some business
discussions and then travel out of Nigeria within a
short time. The law is there for all to see.”

Yang said that ZTE had “always been above board”
with all laws, including those relating to taxes and
pensions.

ZTE Nigeria Limited is the Nigerian subsidiary of ZTE
Corporation which is one of the leading multinational
ICT solution and service providers in the world.

ZTE is listed in the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock
Exchange Market.

It operates in 160 countries with a total turnover of
over 15 billion dollars and over 60,000 staff.