The House of Representatives’ Committee on Communications is working with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to boycott its planned statewide protest on February 4, 2025, over the 50% increase in telecommunications tariffs.
The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC recently allowed a 50% pricing rise for telecommunications providers, citing current operating costs.
Miffed by the development, the NLC promised to launch a statewide demonstration, urging the Federal Government and the National Assembly to reinstate the former tariff in the meantime.
The union mentioned that the protest would serve as a warning on the dangers of imposing such “an unfair increase on a struggling population earning a minimum wage of only N70,000; a population that has suffered an outrageous hike in the price of petrol, a high cost of food, and a hike in electricity tariff, among sundry hardships in the past few years.”
Speaking on the issue, the Chairman of the House Committee on Communications, Peter Akpatason, said the panel was already reaching out to the NLC to shelve the planned mass protest.
Akpatason, who represents Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency, Edo State, mentioned that the planned protest, if allowed to hold, would only bring about more hardship for Nigerians.
He said, “The committee that I chair is already reaching out to the leadership of labour and the industry operators to avert any action that would rather bring more hardship to the people.
“We had earlier met with the industry operators, who explained the numerous challenges bedevilling the sector, such as inadequate funding for infrastructure upgrades to address the consumers’ complaints about declining quality of services and poor coverage. I will advise that we look at the issues objectively before embarking on any protests.”
In the same vein, the Director of Public Affairs of NCC, Reuben Mouka, told our correspondent that the commission was making an effort to engage the NLC over the new telecom tariff.
“We are trying to engage them,” he said.
