The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps on Sunday warned the Nigeria Labour Congress against its planned March 1 shutdown of telecommunication services in response to the recent 50 per cent tariff hike.
The Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria similarly pushed back against the NLC’s planned boycott of telecom services and shutdown of telecom infrastructure, arguing that such actions are misguided and could harm the industry.
The spokesman for the NSCDC, Babawale Afolabi, in a chat with The PUNCH on Sunday, said the agency had deployed operatives to the base stations to prevent any illegal action by the protesters.
The NSCDC, tasked with protecting critical national infrastructure, including telecommunications, expressed concerns over the potential risks the NLC action could pose to national security and public safety. The NLC announced its intention to shut down the operations of telecommunications companies across the country if the tariff hike announced by the Nigerian Communications Commission was not reversed by the end of February.
The union directed Nigerians to boycott the services of major telecom providers, including MTN, Airtel, and Glo, daily between 11am and 2pm starting February 13 and continuing through the month.
The NLC in a communiqué signed by its President, Joe Ajaero and General Secretary, Emma Ugboaja, accused the telecom operators of breaching public trust by implementing the tariff hike before the conclusion of a 10-man review panel’s deliberations.
