The Nigerian Labour Congress has called on telecommunication subscribers to “reject” the Federal Government’s new 50 per cent tariff hike.
In a statement shared on its X handle, NLC wrote “Reject This Tariff.”
The Federal Government approved a 50 per cent increase after operators initially requested a 100 per cent increase.
The hike, the first in over a decade, is aimed at revitalising the struggling telecom sector, which contributes about 14 per cent to Nigeria’s economy.
Responding to the development, NLC described the increment as a burden on Nigerians.
It wrote“N16.50 per minute, calls costs increased from N11 per minute. N6 per message, SMS charges increased from N4 per message. N431.25 per IGB data bundle” IGB data bundle increased from N287.50.
“50% telecom tariff hike: Another burden too harsh on Nigerians.”
The NLC President, Joe Ajaero had earlier in the week, criticised FG’s approval of N8bn for sensitising Nigerians on the need to pay electricity bills.
He said, ” The Power sector in Nigeria is at the brink of collapse as the helmsmen have repeatedly shown gross incompetence. It is a sector where the National Electricity Regulatory Commission despite the enormous power invested in it by the Electricity Act of 2023 has continuously demonstrated incapacity to regulate or outrightly refused to discharge its responsibilities to electricity consumers in Nigeria while the Minister in charge is enamoured with seeking about N8bn to teach Nigerians how to pay electricity bill.
“It is therefore not surprising that power grid collapse is now a constant as it has continued to succumb to greed and crass incompetence.”
He also called for the resignation of the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu and other Ministry of Power officials over the frequent collapse of the national power grid.
Ajaero said, “If the Ministry of Power is manned by competent officials, the now embarrassing constant grid collapse would have been averted instead of the worrying statement by the Minister that this will continue as if this has always been the norm.
“We believe that this is a clear admission of incapacity and failure by the Ministry and we wonder why they would not do the honourable thing by resigning.
“It has to be noted that the number of times the National Grid has collapsed under these helmsmen is more than all the previous leaders in the history of our nation combined. Rather than the garrulous remarks, Nigerians expect more seriousness in handling their affairs.”
In another move, Ajaero faulted Adelabu over electricity bands and migration plans.
The labour leader questioned why some people should be in Band A and others in lower bands, saying that the practice is discriminatory.
