The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has made a counter-proposal for a 5% telecom tariff increase, seeking to mitigate the impact of the 50% hike approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The NLC spokesman Benson Upah said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday.
He said “They keep on emasculating us through stupid taxes. It will come to a point when people can pay but they won’t pay. This really is to halt this mindless tariff increase. And if by any chance there has to be an increase at all, 5%, given the fact of our situation that there have been increases across the board.
“But now to say 50%, it is not going to work. Where will the ordinary Nigerians be at the end of the day when we have energy tariff increases?”
He affirmed that the proposed nationwide protest on February 4, 2025, remains firmly on track, serving as a powerful means of expressing the group’s discontent with the recently announced telecom tariff hike.
In his word, “The manufacturers are groaning, the middle-class people are groaning. The ordinary Nigerians on the streets can’t even afford to turn on the lights in their sitting rooms. When taxes are low, more people than when you have high taxes.”
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have repeatedly underscored the importance of removing energy subsidies and allowing the naira to float freely, stressing that Nigeria’s reluctance to implement these economic reforms has contributed to the persistent inflationary pressures afflicting the country.
