Labour urged to shelve planned protest over telecoms Tariff hike

House of Representatives and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have urged the organises labour to shelve their planned mass protest over 50% hike in telecommunications tariff.

The Chairman, House Committee on Communications, Peter Akpatason, in an interview with PUNCH, said the panel was already reaching out to the NLC to shelve the planned mass protest.

Akpatason noted 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.”

Similarly, the Director of Public Affairs of NCC, Reuben Mouka, told the PUNCH that the commission was making an effort to engage the NLC over the new telecom tariff.

“We are trying to engage them,” he said.

It would be recalled that the Nigerian Communications Commission recently approved a 50 per cent tariff increase for telecommunication companies, citing prevailing operational costs.

This made the NLC to vow to embark on a nationwide protest, calling on the Federal Government and the National Assembly to revert to the old tariff in the interim.