A nationwide protest is currently brewing in Nigeria following the recent approval by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, for telecommunication operators to increase tariff by 50%.


DAILY POST reports that following the mounting financial struggles birthed by the devaluation of the naira and increasing operational costs in Africa’s most populous nation, telecom operators like MTN and Airtel had demanded a 100% tariff increase.

However, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, on Monday, January 20 announced the approval of a 50% tariff increase.


By the time the Mobil Network Operators implement the approved tariff, Nigerians are expected to pay N16.5 per minute for calls from N11, the cost of SMS to N6 from N4, and the cost of 1 gigabit of data – N431.25.

There are, however, stiff oppositions from some stakeholders, who argued that the increment is coming at the wrong time, citing the economic hardship bedeviling the nation at the moment.

Recall that the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC had, while reacting to the proposed tariff increase, rallied Nigerians to reject “another harsh burden”, threatening to mobilize workers to boycott telecom services.


Similarly, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC described the tariff scheduled to begin in February as outrageous, lamenting that it will worsen the harsh living conditions of workers and Nigerians.

Halt the tariff hike now – Yunusa Tanko tells FG

In an exclusive interview with DAILY POST on Saturday, the National Coordinator, OBIDIENT Movement Worldwide, Dr. Yunusa Tanko urged the Federal Government to halt the tariff increase, saying it is a “wrong timing, wrong action and wrong choice”.


According to him, a “50% tariff increase by the NCC at this time is only a final burial to the already struggling economy.

“All sectors of the economy need adequate communication to keep up with their game; the outturn will be spontaneous”.

Yunusa lamented that there “was an influx of 14 million Nigerians into poverty in one year, caused by uninformed government policies and poor economic decisions”, stressing that the country has “never experienced this height of surge since her independence”.


He appealed to the NCC and the Communications and Digital Economy Ministry to “thread cautiously and wisely, get the data right, opt for accurate information, do their analysis objectively, consider the post and aftermath of such actions, and always put the interest of the Nigerian people first.

“Have we thought about what would happen to the SMEs, SMSE, etc? Communication is the life wire of any nation.

“We are yet to recover from the inflation surge affecting basically all foodstuffs and household items, high cost of transportation and other internal disruptions caused by the fuel subsidy removal and other government policies.

“In a nutshell, a 50% tariff hike is a no no no for me; wrong timing; wrong action; wrong choice: and probably wrong outcome.

“The NCC should adopt an immediate reversal of the hike, substantially plan for it, and if there is any need for implementation after a period of time, not 50%. 15% will do”.

Nigerians plan nationwide protest

Irked by the development, DAILY POST gathered on Saturday that a cross section of Nigerians are currently planning to stage protests across the nation to compel the government agency to reverse its decision.

Popular Nigerian activist and politician, Omoyele Sowore told DAILY POST on Saturday that discussions on the nationwide protest are underway.

In a chat with our correspondent, Sowore, who described the tariff increase as unjust, said he recently met with the leadership of the NLC to harmonize plans for nationwide actions to reverse the decision.

“I met with the NLC leadership yesterday to discuss possible nationwide action against this unjust and backbreaking tarring increase.

“Yes, I will support any form of credible protest”, he said.

Another activist, Comrade Timothy Onyilo said the tariff increase would discourage students from research in higher institutions.

According to him, “the only language the government understands is protest and they are going to have it.

“Did they really consider students before coming up with this decision or they just feel like everybody is the same?

“We are already pained that students are suffering due to the high cost of living and you still want to add to their problems.

“Every student needs the internet for academic research. I am doing my MSc in the Abuja university here.

“We spend a lot of data doing research. Things are already hard and some people are still making it harder.

“Instead of them finding a way to improve the services, they are only interested in taking money from us.

“Sometimes, MTN, Glo and even Airtel will frustrate your life as if they are giving you service for free, yet nobody is talking about that”.

DAILY POST recalls that the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, had issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to reverse the decision or face nationwide protests.

The association in a statement on Wednesday noted that affordable internet access was crucial for bridging the educational gap in Nigeria and warned that the tariff hike would further exclude millions of students from accessing quality education, deepening the digital divide.

Meanwhile, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC, had mandated the telecommunication industry to prioritize service improvement including network reliability, speed and accessibility, in the planned tariff adjustments.

In a recent statement by its Director, Corporate Affairs, Ondanje Ijagwu, FCCPC said although it acknowledged the economic pressures faced by telecom operators in the country, including increasing operational costs, “consumer interests remain paramount”.

https://dailypost.ng/2025/01/27/hardship-nationwide-protest-looms-as-nigerians-reject-telecom-tariff-increase/

Lol

For more jokes, sms nationwide protest to 419

Ignore the commenter above me


If this Protest should happen in a large scale then Nigerians have slightly started learning ho to reject suffering

Kind of funny.

I know that people will call me agbero and would call me apc supporter, but this protest is as riddiculous as the 2012 anti subsidy removal protests. Yes, I said it.

Telecoms people have not increased prices in 12 years. That's very kind of them...because any business person that does that in Nigeria would have collapsed since 2016. If not that they ended the cheats loophole, many of them would have collapsed.

We want the telecoms companies to keep on underselling....and at the same time we want them to improve service. We want them to give us seamless internet, video calls, and the infrastructure to host Zoom and Google meet and Microsoft teams meetings, and all the stuff we put out on Youtube and Tiktok...

And we want them to do this at a loss.

How are we going to get better services if SMS is still going at N4 per message, for example? Where would they get the profits to expand services, to even pay for fuel for the base stations (remember most of them run on diesel, and diesel got deregulated over 10 years ago...meaning prices are high)....and so forth.

Many of us run businesses. If the economy gets harsh, are we going to keep prices low to help the poor, or are we going to raise prices to keep our businesses going?


If you want to abuse me, go ahead. But whatever you say here....if you want better services, people want to be paid to give you better.

Sirmwill:
Ignore the commenter above me


If this Protest should happen in a large scale then Nigerians have slightly started learning ho to reject suffering

Okay, so we protest, and the Telecoms people reduce prices...then what?

They won't earn the profits needed to pay for better and improved services, and quality would start dropping.

See our electricity power. Until last year, all customers either paid prices that were kept too low for the sector to make a profit, and at least 40% were not paying anything at all. Result...after 90 or so odd years of electricity in Nigeria, we can only generate 5000 megawats on a good day. For 200 million people. Because the profits are not there. Even now that government has made it that 20% of consumers pay market price for power.

We don't make most of the components that go into our telecoms infrastructure. We have to import them. They are expensive...so...

And don't mention subsidy. Government used to subsidze NITEL heavily. Today, NITEL is a shadow of itself.

Nonsense, how can they protest over tariff increase but couldn't protest over fuel and dollar increase....

Everything has been increasing and Nigerians keep mute about it.....
Na data to watch p0rn weh them increased na it them wan fight government for.

Wrong focus and misdirected action.

The protest should be against the government that has created the poor socioeconomic conditions requiring unprecedented increases in prices of good and services while reducing the purchasing power of the common man.

JASONjnr:
Nonsense, how can they protest over tariff increase but couldn't protest over fuel and dollar increase....

Everything has been increasing and Nigerians keep mute about it.....
Na data to watch p0rn weh them increased na it them wan fight government for.

Well, if we had protested over fuel and dollar increase, we would have been told that keeping fuel and dollar...nicefor poor Nigerians was costing government so much that 90% of our revenue was going in for debt servicing....by August 2022.

Unless you want tinubu to take loans up to like 200 billion dollars or more annually....you better bid subsidy on fuel goodbye.

My only joy is that karma dealt with APC and tinubu well well, and showed them they were wrong to oppose GEJ in 2012. Had they not, by now we would have been over the worst.

nairalanda1:


Well, if we had protested over fuel and dollar increase, we would have been told that keeping fuel and dollar...nicefor poor Nigerians was costing government so much that 90% of our revenue was going in for debt servicing....by August 2022.

Unless you want tinubu to take loans up to like 200 billion dollars or more annually....you better bid subsidy on fuel goodbye.

My only joy is that karma dealt with APC and tinubu well well, and showed them they were wrong to oppose GEJ in 2012. Had they not, by now we would have been over the worst.

God isn't punishing APC or Tinubu.....

They're really enjoying their regime.

Nigerians should know how to stand for what they want and how the government can involved them in every activities.

But we care less about the important things of the government. Protest is not a crime but how many people will come out to support it.

Also know that, the government can use other means to tax you while pretending not to increase the tariff of the pressure is too much on them.

When will they protest against wastage and religious expenses.

We did not protest electricity tariff increase and poor power supply, na increase in call rate we want protest.

There's no need for protest. What we need is to remove this government and vote in someone with at least small sense, cos this one them helinious and manna yakubu selected for us no get 1% sense

No protest in the North.

You didn't protest the wicked 600 percent increament in petrol prices and 200 percent increament in Nepal tarriff that caused all this bit you want to protest 50 percent increase in Telco tarriff even when you know without this increment most of them will shut down

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vas4xr6BVJl5nU2ujf2X

May Almighty God fortify u with all the knowledge u need to prevail this 2025....Amen.



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Days of rage 2.0

Sowore again ? You people should just go and sleep instead of wasting time with that clown

What did you achieve with your last protest? Tinubu will not bend, I’m sure you know that by now

See before June this year 2025 the telecom industry will increase their tariffs by 100% and the electricity subsidy would be gone

More suffering for Nigerians courtesy of APC's tilumbu

Mama put has increase price more than 250%.

Transport fare has increased more than 200%.

Petrol price increased more than 300%.

I put it to you that anyone going to the street to protest against telecom 50% is an ignoramus.

If you want to protest, you should protest against government naira devaluation and petrol subsidy removal.

If you don't want telecoms to increase their tariff, then compel the government to start paying telecom subsidy to the telecom companies.

Unrelated. My mission this year na to destroy 6000 transformers per day.

As power sector allow me lose money, very useless.

So Make nobody get light, time to import more gens and buy more fuel. If I no fit afford am, I go sit down jeje. Than be hoping power will be restored on false hope