NLC pressures FG to reduce telcom Tariff hike by 15%

According to government sources, an official communique announcing the tariff reduction is expected to be released any moment from Saturday, February 22.

Organised Labour through the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, seemed to have forced the Federal Government to reduce telecommunications tariff hike from 50 percent to 35 percent.

The expected reduction came after a meeting between a 10-man committee comprising government and NLC representatives at the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, on Friday, February 21, 2025.

It was reported by Vanguard that the meeting started around 4pm and ended about 7pm, where NLC representatives insisted that the tariff hike must be withdrawn.

Sources also claimed that after much pressure from NLC representatives in the 10-man committee, the government and NCC gave in and agreed on 15 percent reduction.

Recall that NLC had on February 12, expressed outrage over the hike in tariff by telecommunications companies such as MTN & Airtel despite an earlier agreement reached with the Federal Government and the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and demanded immediate reversal of the hike to avoid unpleasant consequences.

According to NLC,

“If the telecommunications companies fail to revert to the old tariff by the end of February 2025, a total shutdown of their operations nationwide will commence from March 1, 2025.”

To show its seriousness, NLC declared that as a first step in resisting the arbitrary tariff hike, it directed that from Thursday, February 13, 2025, workers and other willing citizens should boycott the services of MTN, AIRTEL, and GLO daily between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM until the end of February 2025.

Leaders of NLC in a communique at the end of their Central Working Committee, CWC, meeting in Lokoja, Kogi State, Tuesday, February 11, urged workers and citizens to suspend the purchase of data from the telecommunications companies which has also become one of their greatest tools for exploiting Nigerian citizens. Read On…