The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Communications, Peter Akpatason ’ has said an interface is going on with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress to avert the nationwide protest scheduled February 4, 2025, over the 50 per cent hike in telecom tariff.
Akpatason who represents Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency, Edo State, told The Punch 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.”
Also, spokesperson of NCC, Reuben Mouka, the commission would engage the NLC over the new telecom tariff.
“We are trying to engage them,” he said.
The NLC had condemned the NCC for approving a 50 per cent tariff increase for telecommunication companies, and demanded a reversal.
It vowed to embark on a nationwide protest, if the Federal Government and the National Assembly did not revert to the old tariff in the interim.
The NLC said the rally 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, high cost of food, hike in electricity tariff, among sundry hardship in the past few years.”
Telecom companies had lamented recently that they were operating under heavy costs, saying they cannot meet up under such conditions.
They said there was no way they could remain in business without increasing the tariffs.
