The Nigerian government is set to be the second-largest beneficiary of MTN Nigeria’s ₦545.89 billion ($406.37 million) dividend payment scheduled for September 7.

On July 30, MTN disclosed that its board had approved an interim dividend of ₦26 ($0.019) per 2-kobo ordinary share, subject to withholding tax. The dividend will be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the company’s register as of August 20, 2026.

As of the end of H1 2026, MTN Nigeria — the country’s largest mobile operator by subscribers — had 20.99 billion shares outstanding, meaning the ₦26 ($0.019) dividend will distribute about ₦545.9 billion ($406.37 million) to shareholders before tax. But shareholders will not receive the full amount.

Dividends in Nigeria are subject to a 10% withholding tax, meaning MTN Nigeria’s payout will result in ₦54.59 billion ($40.64 million) going to the government before shareholders receive their dividends.

The scale of a billion

MTN’s ₦545.89 billion dividend triggers a massive ₦54.59 billion withholding tax. That figure looks very different depending on whether it is viewed as a corporate payout or a tax windfall.

As corporate earnings and dividend payments rise, profitable listed companies are becoming an increasingly important source of tax revenue for a government broadening its tax base. Nigeria has for years recorded one of the world’s lowest tax-to-GDP ratios, and the package of tax reform laws that took effect in January 2026 — the most significant overhaul of the country’s fiscal framework in decades — has sharpened the focus on steady, non-oil revenue streams such as withholding tax on company dividends.

How much of MTN’s dividend actually reaches shareholders?

For 1,000 shares, the gross dividend is ₦26,000.00. After the 10% withholding tax of ₦2,600.00, the net payout falls to ₦23,400.00.

More than 336,000 retail investors hold up to 10,000 shares each. Collectively, this group will receive a net dividend of roughly ₦3.22 billion.

Meanwhile, the government will collect ₦54.59 billion from the total dividend pool. Unlike investors, the government does not need to own a single MTN share to receive it.

Government’s cut is second only to MTN International

The ₦54.59 billion ($40.64 million) withholding tax is larger than the dividend payment to any shareholder group except MTN International (Mauritius) Limited, which owns 73.39% of MTN Nigeria.

MTN International holds 15.41 billion shares, giving it a gross dividend entitlement of ₦400.65 billion ($298.25 million). After the 10% withholding tax, about ₦360.58 billion ($268.43 million) will reach the company.

The next-largest shareholder group, consisting of two shareholders with 1.11 billion shares, is entitled to roughly ₦28.92 billion ($21.53 million) before tax. The largest block of shareholders, 336,608 investors, collectively holds about 137.77 million shares and is entitled to ₦3.58 billion ($2.67 million) before tax.

Who actually owns MTN Nigeria?

MTN Nigeria has more than 346,000 shareholders. But the number of investors tells a very different story from the distribution of capital ownership.

With a market capitalization of more than ₦16.90 trillion ($12.58 billion), MTN Nigeria returned to dividend payments in 2025. In October 2025, it declared an interim dividend of ₦5 per share, its first since August 2023, after restoring positive retained earnings and shareholders’ equity.

The company later proposed a final dividend of ₦15 per share for 2025, bringing total dividends for the year to ₦20 per share.

Those payouts followed a sharp financial turnaround. MTN Nigeria’s revenue rose 54.93% in 2025, while profit after tax climbed to ₦1.11 trillion ($805.50 million), reversing the loss recorded a year earlier. The recovery unfolded as the industry repriced its services, after the Nigerian Communications Commission approved a 50% tariff increase in January 2025, the sector’s first major adjustment in more than a decade.

That momentum continued in the first half of 2026, when revenue reached ₦2.99 trillion ($2.23 billion), up 25.9% year-on-year, and profit after tax rose 70.6% to ₦707.54 billion ($526.71 million).

For MTN Group, the Johannesburg-listed parent, the resumption of large Nigerian dividends also marks a shift from recent years, when foreign-exchange shortages in Nigeria made it harder to move money out of the country. Whether the interim dividend is followed by a final payout for 2026, as it was in 2025, will become clear in the company’s next set of results.

Although the ₦54.59 billion ($40.64 million) withholding tax is significant, it is only part of the taxes MTN Nigeria has already paid to the government. The company paid ₦384.05 billion in taxes during the period.

For investors, the amount that will ultimately reach their accounts is ₦23.40 per share after the 10% withholding tax, rather than the announced ₦26. For the government, the payout delivers a ₦54.59 billion ($40.64 million) revenue boost without owning a single MTN Nigeria share.