Telecom industry unions and various stakeholders have criticized the proposed planned nationwide strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
NLC has planned a nationwide protest to start on Tuesday, February 4, 2025. The Union is protesting against the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) approval of a 50% increase in telecommunications tariffs.
However, the telecom stakeholders have argued that the protest is misguided. They noted that NLC announced the strike without consulting key players in the telecom sector.
Recall that NCC had approved a tariff adjustment of up to 50%, which was significantly lower than the 100% increase proposed by telecom operators.
However, the Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PTECSSAN, has expressed disapproval of the NLC’s decision. The association stated that Labour did not consult telecom sector unions before calling for the strike.
This was contained in a letter addressed to the NLC leadership by PTECSSAN’s General Secretary, Okonu Abdullahi. He emphasized that the tariff hike was implemented in good faith to prevent the sector from collapsing.
The Congress had in a communiqué issued after its National Administrative Council (NAC) meeting, demanded an immediate reversal of the 50% hike.
The communiqué, which was signed by the NLC President, Joe Ajaero condemned the NCC’s decision for the increase. He called the hike, an excessive burden on citizens.
Recall that the last telecom tariff increase approved by the NCC was in 2013 when Nigeria’s inflation rate stood at 8.5%.
Today, inflation has surged to 34.8%, a nearly 300% increase. Thus, prompting calls for tariff adjustments to reflect economic realities.
source: Daily Trust
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