The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has suspended the nationwide mass rally scheduled for today Tuesday over the 50% hike on telecom services approved by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC).
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero made this known on Monday night after the federal government met with labour union leaders with a view to reaching a common ground on the recent 50% increment on telecom tariffs by the NCC.
Recall NCC recently released a statement saying it had acceded to the requests of mobile network operators to hike tariffs by a maximal increment of 50% adjustments for calls, data and others in response to prevailing operational costs.
Not okay with the development, NLC declared plans to embark on a nationwide mass rally on February 4. However, the FG met with the labour union on Monday with a view to reaching a common ground.
The meeting it was learnt was at the behest of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume and was aimed to maintain industrial harmony and to also protect the interest of Nigerians.
After extensive deliberation, the FG and NLC agreed to set up a 10-man committee comprising five members from the government and five from the labour union to review the study by the NCC and submit its report within two weeks.
Comrade Ajaero after the meeting said that the union will wait till the outcome of the committee to determine its next line of action.
Speaking on behalf of the FG, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris said the purpose of the meeting was to look into the study carried out by the NCC, which led to the 50% increment on telecoms tariffs.
“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 government and the organised Labour for final consideration,” Idris said.
Present at the meeting were Minister Communication and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijanni; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida.
Others are the Minister of Labour and Employment, Alhaji Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu; National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, among others.