The management of MTN Nigeria Wednesday directed its staff to stay away from headquarters in Lagos to protect workers from planned picketing by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and some other youth-based groups.

Sources at the telecommunications company said on Wednesday morning that the company received a letter from the organisations informing it of the planned picketing.

“Right now, I am talking to you from my house. They told us to stay at home because they are scared that the picketing might turn violent.

“The last time that the NLC guys came, some staff sustained injuries and they want to avoid that at the moment.

“We might still go but they want to monitor the situation first.”

The students associations are displeased about the killings of Nigerians in South Africa and had planned to protest at South African businesses.

There have been recorded cases of Nigerians losing their lives in xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

The latest record of a Nigerians who lost their life in South Africa is Elizabeth Ndubisi-Chukwu, the deputy director-general of Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), who was killed in her hotel room.

As at 12pm, the company had however dispatched buses to pick up staff so that normal activities could resume.

•Excerpted from a Daily Sun report.