Based on the prevailing economic situation, MTN Nigeria has revived its customer service through an initiative tagged ‘MTN Lucky Jackpot Campaign’ to deepen engagement and bring inactive subscribers back to its network.

The Lucky Jackpot Campaign, which is scheduled to run for nine months is divided into three seasons. Under the first season, MTN Nigeria has paid out N100 million to 10 winners.

Speaking at the prize presentation held at MTN Nigeria’s headquarters in Lagos during the week, the company’s Chief Digital Officer, Aisha Mumuni, said the decision to revamp the more than decade-old service was driven by the need to offer customers something simple, fun and family-friendly. “We decided to give our community of customers something to look forward to.”

Mumuni said the initiative had also helped bring some inactive SIM cards back onto the network, as subscribers returned to participate in the draws.

She explained that participation was designed to be simple, requiring subscribers to text “WIN” to 4445, after which their MTN numbers would automatically be entered into the draw.

According to her, the winning numbers are generated through an automated process, with no human selection involved. “It’s literally lucky,” she said.

She added that the company was already considering subsequent seasons, saying the first season had been “pretty engaging” and interactive.

Senior Manager, Digital Services Partner Management at MTN Nigeria, Eyitayo Amushan, said the company collaborated with Yellow Dots Africa to revive the service after reviewing its subscriber base and the prevailing economic situation. He said the partnership focused on increasing the winnings and making the service more attractive to subscribers.

Amushan said participation had risen from about 240,000 at the start of the campaign to more than 1.4 million, as the company hopes to increase the figure further. “With over 40 million active data subscribers and over 90 million subscribers on the network, 1.4 million playing today is just like scratching the surface,” he said.

Izuchukwu Lucky Uba Martins, Product Manager, Yellow Dots Africa, said the service’s simplicity was one of its major attractions, as subscribers only needed to send the keyword to the designated short code before waiting for the winning number.

Senior Manager, Platforms Management, MTN Nigeria, Joshua Isiebo, said the platform had provided an avenue for customers to participate and stand a chance of winning substantial prizes, adding that the testimonies from winners demonstrated its impact.

For a Lagos-based professional make-up artist and fashion stylist Enweazu Blessing, she discovered Lucky Number through a testimonial on Instagram and had participated for a little over two months, said she was shocked when she received the call informing her that she had won N10 million. “I was not expecting to win. I said it’s a lie. I’m not even joking, I screamed my lungs out,” she said.

She plans to put about half of the money into expanding her business, invest part of the remainder and support her mother and siblings.

The cheques were presented to the winners by Nigerian content creator and artist Lawal Michael Nasiru, popularly known as Nasboi.