The Nigeria Labour Congress has sternly rejected the recent 50% tariff increase by the Federal Government, urging subscribers to do the same.
Recently the Federal Government, under the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, approved a 50 percent increase after operators initially requested a 100 percent increase.
The boost, the first in over a decade, is intended to revitalize Nigeria’s faltering telecom sector, which accounts for approximately 14% of the country’s economy.
NLC, in their response, described the increment as a burden on Nigerians.
In a statement shared on its X handle, NLC wrote, “Reject This Tariff.”
The labour union wrote, “N16.50 per minute; call 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, who has been very critical, had earlier in the week criticized FG’s approval of N8bn for sensitizing 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 bills.
“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 action, Ajaero chastised Adelabu over electrical bands and migration intentions.
The labour leader questioned why certain people should be in Band A while others are in lesser bands, claiming that the approach is unfair.
