Nigeria to earn $41 million from MTN’s $406 million dividend payout
The Nigerian government is set to be the second-biggest 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 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.
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The Scale of a Billion
MTN’s ₦545.89 billion dividend triggers a massive ₦54.59 billion withholding tax. See what that number looks like in two entirely different contexts.
This mandatory 10% withholding tax is subtracted directly from the total payout, leaving ₦491.3 billion for shareholders.
While ₦54.59 billion is a massive expense for a single company’s dividend payout, it represents just a tiny fraction of the ₦40.71 trillion the country aims to raise this year.
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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.
How much of MTN’s dividend actually reaches you?
Enter your shares below to see exactly what lands in your account, and how your payout compares to the scale of the government’s total tax windfall.
Try 100, 1,000, or 10,000 shares.
For 1,000 shares, your gross dividend is ₦26,000.00.
After the government takes its 10% withholding tax (₦2,600.00), your net payout is:
The scale of the system
You are one of over 336,000 retail investors holding up to 10,000 shares. Collectively, this entire group will receive a net dividend of roughly ₦3.22 billion.
Meanwhile, from the total dividend pool across all shareholders, the government secures a staggering ₦54.59 billion.
17× MORE
than every everyday retail investor combined.
And unlike investors, the government does not need to own a single MTN share to collect it.
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Government’s cut is second only to MTN
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, collectively holds about 137.77 million shares and is entitled to ₦3.58 billion ($2.67 million) before tax.
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Who Actually Owns MTN Nigeria?
MTN Nigeria has over 346,000 shareholders. But looking at the sheer number of investors tells a very different story from looking at who holds the actual capital.
↳ hold just 0.66% of the company’s shares.
↳ belong to the 336,000+ retail investors.
↳ belong to MTN International (a single corporate entity).
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MTN Nigeria, with a market cap of more than ₦16.90 trillion ($12.58 billion), returned to dividend payments in 2025, declaring an interim dividend of ₦5 per share in October 2025, its first since August 2023, after restoring positive retained earnings and shareholders’ equity.
It later proposed a final dividend of ₦15 per share for 2025, bringing its total dividend for the year to ₦20 per share.
The payouts followed a sharp financial turnaround. MTN Nigeria’s revenue rose 54.93% in 2025, while profit after tax surged to ₦1.11 trillion ($805.50 million), reversing the loss recorded a year earlier.
That momentum continued in the first half of 2026, when the company reported revenue of ₦2.99 trillion ($2.23 billion), up 25.9% year-on-year, and profit after tax of ₦707.54 billion ($526.71 million), up 70.6%.
While the ₦54.59 billion ($40.64 million) withholding tax is significant, it is only a fraction 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 ultimately lands in their accounts will be ₦23.40 per share after the 10% withholding tax, rather than the announced ₦26. For the government, the payout offers a ₦54.59 billion ($40.64 million) revenue boost without owning a single share of MTN Nigeria.
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