By Abiola Olawale
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has announced its decision to suspend its proposed nationwide protest against the 50% hike in telecom tariffs, initially planned to be held on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.
The union announced this decision after a meeting with representatives from the Federal Government led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, on Monday.
A statement issued by the Director of Information & Public Relations in the office of the SGF, Seguin Imohiosen, said during the meeting both the labour union and government agreed to suspend the protest in the interest of industrial harmony.
According to the statement, the two parties also agreed to form a 10-man joint committee to review the tariff structure. Both the government and NLC will have five representatives each on this committee, which has two weeks to submit its findings and recommendations.
The statement reads in part: “So, the summary of it is that Labour and the Nigerian Labour Congress specifically and the delegation of the federal government have set up a committee of five each. We are going to meet here continuously for the next two weeks. And at the end of the second week, we will now come up with a recommendation that we will give to the government and the organised Labour for final consideration.”
In his remarks, the NLC president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said that the union will wait till the outcome of the Committee to determine its next line of action.
Present at the meeting were the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijanni, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Aminu Maida, Minister of Labour and Employment, Alhaji Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, among others.
It would be recalled that the NLC had announced that it would hold a nationwide protest on Tuesday to kick back against the recent increment of telecom tariff by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The NCC recently approved a 50% increase in telecommunications tariffs, marking the first significant adjustment since 2013.
The commission explained that the decision came in response to requests from telecommunications operators for tariff hikes to address the gap between operational costs and revenue amidst economic challenges, including inflation and currency devaluation.
