- Karl Toriola, the MTN Nigeria CEO, was speculated to earn N8.5 million daily
- He earned N4.452 million daily as of 2023 as his annual salary increased from N850 million in 2022 to N1.625 billion in 2023
- MTN Nigeria maintains a tradition of reviewing staff salaries annually to match naira fluctuations and inflationary trends
Since the beginning of March 2025, the internet has been agog with the news of the rumoured daily earning of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola.
The speculations that Toriola is the highest-paid employee in Nigeria with a daily N8.5 million earning dominated conversations among Nigerians on social media.
The arguments of whether or not Toriola really earns a daily income of N8.5 million stemmed from concerns about executive compensation and corporate performance vis-a-vis the broader economic realities in Nigeria.
Toriola, who keeps a relatively low social profile, has been thrown into the public’s eyes with the social media buzz about his earnings.
Who is Karl Toriola?
Toriola was born on March 16, 1972, in Ife, Osun State, Nigeria, as Karl Olutokun Toriola, and spent his early years in Modakeke.
After his secondary education, Toriola pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and graduated in 1994.
He obtained a Master’s degree in Communication Systems in 1996 from the University of Wales, Swansea, in the United Kingdom.
Toriola also attended executive programmes at different institutions to further hone his leadership and business acumen, including Harvard Business School (2005-2008), the Institute of Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland (2006), London Business School (2009), Wharton Business School (2011), and INSEAD in Singapore (2013).
His telecommunications career, which spans nearly 30 years, began in 1995 at Ericsson Switzerland, where he spent five years before moving to Ericsson Nigeria in 2000 as Support and Integration Manager for GSM.
He joined Vmobile Nigeria (now Airtel Nigeria) as Chief Operations/Regional Officer in 2004, overseeing technical functions and left in 2006.
Toriola began working with MTN Irancell in Tehran in 2006 as an Operations Consultant, returning to Nigeria as MTN’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO) in October 2006. His role involved overseeing Technology Strategy, Capital Projects, and Network Rollout. His leadership earned MTN the 2009 Best CTO and Best Network awards.
He served briefly as interim CEO of MTN Congo Brazzaville in 2021 before he was appointed CEO of MTN Cameroon.
Under Toriola, MTN Cameroon’s market share grew from 51 per cent to 62 per cent. He successfully negotiated 3G and 4G licences, a fibre licence, and partial ownership transfer of the WACS submarine cable system to Cameroon’s government.
MTN Cameroon became the first MTN Group subsidiary to earn the Investors in People (IIP) Gold certification with Toriola at the saddle.
In 2015, Toriola became the Group Operating Executive at MTN Group, overseeing operations in 12 countries.
He was promoted to Vice President for West and Central Africa in 2016. The 53-year old was named the successor of Ferdinand Moolman in October 2020, and officially assumed the role of MTN Nigeria CEO on March 1, 2021.
Toriola’s earnings over the years
As of 2022, a year after assuming the MTN Nigeria CEO role, Toriola earned N850 million annually, which placed him at the top spot of highest-paid CEOs in Nigeria at the time.
This means that Toriola earned N2.328 million daily as of 2022.
In 2023, his annual salary increased by 91.18 per cent from N850 million to N1.625 billion. Going by this, Toriola’s daily earnings stood at N4.452 million.
However, he was displaced as the highest-paid CEO in Nigeria by Ebenezer Onyeagwu, the Group MD/CEO of Zenith Bank.
Onyeagwu’s annual salary rose by 660 per cent from N258 million in 2022 to N2.17 billion in 2023, earning him the top spot.
Toriola’s other roles and memberships
Apart from his executive roles, Toriola has been involved in many other roles and memberships of corporate boards in executive and non-executive capacities, which also come with compensations.
He served as Chairman of MTN/Areeba Guinea and as a Non-Executive Director for Jumia Africa, American Towers Uganda, and MTN subsidiaries in Francophone West Africa.
As of January 2021, Toriola acquired 253,982 ordinary shares of MTN Nigeria, worth over N41 million. The shares were made over a spread of three deals/transactions at an average price of N162.96 throughout the transactions.
MTN Nigeria’s tradition of staff remuneration
Unlike other telecommunication companies, MTN Nigeria holds tightly to a tradition of competitive staff remuneration.
Of its 1,809 employees, 1,514 earn at least N1 million monthly, with the lowest-paid employee earning an average of N458,333 monthly, per TechCabal, a benchmark that is unmatched by other telecom companies.
MTN Nigeria’s competitive pay is tied to its tradition of conducting annual salary reviews regardless of naira fluctuations and inflationary trends. This is unlike that of other telcos that peg staff salary increases to company performance or individual performance.
The telecommunication giant’s policy on staff remuneration has seen its total wage bill surge by 59.5 per cent from N42.7 billion to N71.7 billion in 2024.
Does Toriola really earn N8.5 million daily?
Since the 2024 data on how much CEOs in Nigeria earn, it will be difficult to confirm whether or not Toriola really earns N8.5 million daily.
However, going by the rate of increase in his salary between 2022 and 2023, which saw his earnings surge by 91.18 per cent from N850 million to N1.625 billion, an N8.5 million daily earning is not unlikely.
Also, the dividends from his shares in MTN Nigeria and compensations from other roles and board memberships are other sources of income for the MTN Nigeria’s top man.
Added to this is the company’s tradition of annual staff salary review, which may see his earnings increase from the N1.625 billion he earned in 2023.
Full list: Salaries of different levels of employees in Nigerian banks
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that the amount Nigerian banks pay different levels of employees is often kept a secret, a strategy deployed by banks to avoid staff requesting for raises or considering moving to competitors.
TheRadar highlighted the different salaries for different levels of bank employees such as Executive Trainee, Assistant Banking Officer, Banking Officer, Senior Banking Officer, and Assistant Manager.
