It may sound like fiction. But it was real. A prayer warrior threatened to sue telecoms giant MTN Nigeria for compensation over her role in the companies’ successes.
She asked MTN to share some of its profits with her or face legal action.
According to the woman, she prayed and fasted for MTN’s growth since inception.
Having witnessed the company’s achievements, and the fact that her prayers were answered in her lifetime, she is entitled to part of the profits made by the company, she said.
The lady demanded N20 million from MTN, contending that she had been praying for it since it started operations in 2001.
This real-life story is an instance of demand letters and lawsuits that MTN’s in-house counsel have to deal with, the telco’s General Manager, Commercial Legal, Mrs Ifeoma Utah, said.
She spoke during a mentorship forum: “An evening with the MTN Legal Team”, held in collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Lagos Branch Continuing Legal Education (CLE) and Mentorship Committee.
The event, which held at MTN Nigeria’s Lagos headquarters, had the theme: Renovating the house: The swelling influence of the general counsel.
Utah said MTN, as much as possible, avoids lawsuits.
“The bottom-line is that we don’t want to be in court,” she said.
According to her, in-house legal teams have never been more important. MTN Nigeria, she said, has a 22-man legal team.
The department, she said, is further divided into four: Operations and Business Partnering, Contracts and Business Transactions, Claims and Dispute Resolutions and Litigation.
She said litigation is usually the last resort after other settlement options had failed.
“In such cases, we try to match the right firm with the right case,” she said.
Utah urged her lawyers to go the extra mile to broaden their knowledge.
“There is more to being a lawyer than just drafting documents and going to court. You have to be a coach, a financial expert, a business analyst and a star negotiator, among others.
“An in-house counsel is a bit of a generalist – you must know a bit of everything because the company that you serve will require you to give advice on a diverse range of issues.
“You must be knowledgeable about the industry, about your company’s products and services, about the culture and the customs of geographic regions where your company operates,” she said.
According to Utah, a good in-house counsel must build her capacity for risk management.
“Our belief in MTN is that we do not wait for the shoe to drop before we move in. We make sure the shoe does not drop,” she said.
On how the corporate counsel ensures the shoe does not drop, she said: “Plan, plan, plan for every contingency. Have a Plan A, B, C and D, just in case. Envisage every possibility. It is hard work, but the watchword of a smart lawyer is to plan.
“Crisis management is indispensable to big business. Research shows that 59 per cent of businesses have experienced a crisis, but only 54 per cent of businesses have a plan in place to deal with them.
“Responsible companies do not relegate their lawyers to the background. They bring them to the table. We are not an after-thought,” she added.
On how MTN selects external counsel, Utah said: “There are big cases that don’t require a SAN to handle it while there might be a N1 million case that we retain a SAN. It’s all about the long- term implications.”
Utah noted that not every dispute has to end in litigation. Like the woman, who demanded N20million compensation for her prayers, each “dispute” requires a different approach to resolve.
She said after conferring with other departments within the company, they brought the woman and her lawyer in, had a chat and gave her some branded gifts. She withdrew the demand.
Utah spent some time speaking on how the corporate counsel should have the right balance of intelligence quotient and emotional intelligence.
“Emotional intelligence is critical to success as a lawyer. You need to understand the vicissitudes of the people you’re negotiating with. It will help with knowing how to press people’s ‘mumu’ button,” she said.
She added that in her experience, emotional intelligence is the key differentiator between two highly qualified people.
“When you have the technical competence, it will be your soft skills that will distinguish you. Always strive to know how to connect with people,” she advised.
As the country’s biggest telco and a key lynchpin of Africa’s largest telecommunications group – serving almost 66 million customers – MTN Nigeria is a very large operation.
Utah said the 22-man in-house counsel team reviewed over 1,000 contracts last year alone, with the average of 60-70 pages long.
“You have to automate, innovate and have a keen eye of detail in order to deliver superior work,” she said.
MTN’s Corporate Relations Executive, Mr Tobechukwu Okigbo, gave a motivational speech on the need not to give up in the face of life’s challenges. “Success covers a multitude of blunders,” he said.
NBA Lagos Branch chairman Mr Chukwuka Ikwuazom, said the event was organised to help lawyers understand what companies expect from external counsel.