The House of Representatives’ Committee on Communications has urged the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), not to embark on the nationwide protest scheduled for February 4, 2025.
NLC wants to commence an industrial action over the 50 percent hike in telecom tariff.
Recall that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently approved a 50 percent tariff increase for telecommunication companies, citing rising operational costs.
Angered by the development, the NLC vowed to embark on a nationwide protest, urging the Federal Government and the National Assembly to revert to the old tariff in the mean time.
The union remarked that the rally would warn 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, high cost of food, hike in electricity tariff, among sundry hardship in the past few years.”
While speaking exclusively with Sunday Punch on the issue, the Chairman, House Committee on Communications, Peter Akpatason, said the panel was already getting in touch with the NLC to shelve the planned mass protest.
Akpatason who represents Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency, Edo State, stated 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 bedeviling 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.”
