By Uche Amunike
The newly appointed CEO of Nigerian telecom giant, Globacom, Ahmad Farrouk has resigned from office, just one month into assuming the role in October 2024.
Even though Globacom is yet to issue an official statement or communicate the resignation internally, some industry insiders have suggested that the decision was linked to certain challenges within the company’s organizational structure.
According to news reports by techcabal, a mid-level manager at Globacom, who spoke on the condition of anonymity stated that the newly appointed Globacom CEO resigned as a result of problems linked with organizational set up.
The news media also reported that a top-level executive at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) who also spoke anonymously, confirmed Farrouk’s resignation, but refused to give specific details concerning his exit.
All efforts made to get Globacom to react to the information proved abortive.
According to tech cabal, Farrouk’s sudden resignation throws light on significant internal challenges at Globacom, which has been criticized for long for its centralized decision-making process. It also reported that a former Globacom executive confirmed that the founder of the company, Mike Adenuga makes decisions within the company. He further stated that Adenuga has managed the formidable Globacom alongside his other business interests, which include Oil and Gas, real estate, financial services, with minimal structural separation between his other ventures and Globacom’s operations.
Even though this approach has worked for the company over the years, it hasn’t worked for Farrouk, whose experience at more structured organizations like MTN and Airtel, must have led him to expect a different level of operational autonomy at Globacom.
His departure came at a time when Globacom is faced with heightened regulatory scrutiny. In late 2024, the NCC sector audit announced that over 40 million Globacom subscribers were not properly registered with their National Identification Numbers (NIN), thereby violating government regulations. Globacom lost significant market share, as a result, with the Nigerian mobile market shrinking by approximately 60%, leaving it with only 12%.
Globacom has also been bedeviled with ongoing cyber security issues, which includes a high profile hack in 2023 that exposed the personal data of millions of its subscribers. It appears these issues created an environment that frustrated Farrouk’s leadership efforts from making early meaningful impacts in the organization.
Ayoola Oke, who is former Special Adviser to the former Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Ernest Ndukwe stated: ‘A CEO leaving in one month is unprecedented in the industry. The NCC can investigate the reason for his exit. The commission can seek an explanation from the CEO, who is not obligated to respond, or from the company because this is about corporate governance which the NCC Act covers.’
The vacuum left by Farrouk’s departure has put a question mark on Globacom’s leadership as it concerns the company’s capacity to navigate its current internal challenges while regaining its competitive edge. Without the needed structural changes, it is unclear, how Globacom will address the weaknesses imminent in the organization which reportedly made the Globacom CEO resign.
