THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has flayed the Federal Government for implementing the policies of the Bretton Woods institutions, (the World Bank and the IMF), saying the removal of fuel subsidies and the recent tariff hike are emasculating Nigerians.
“They keep on emasculating us through crazy taxes. It will soon come to a point where people will simply refuse to pay”, said NLC’s spokesman, Benson Upah at a live television programme,, monitored in Asaba yesterday.
He said that the union rejected the recent announcement of a 50 per cent telecoms tariff hike by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and proposed only a five per cent increase in cost of data and calls.
He said there is no going back on its nationwide protest scheduled for Tuesday, February 4, 2025, to drive home the displeasure of the group against the recently announced telecoms tariff increase.
Upah said, “This rally is to halt a mindless tariff increase. And if by any chance there has to be an increase at all, it shall be five per cent, given our situation as a people.
“But to say it is going to be 50 per cent, it is not going to work. Where will ordinary Nigerians be at the end of the day when we have energy tariff increases?
“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 consistently advocated the removal of energy subsidies and the floating of the naira, saying failure to effect the two economic policies has plunged Nigeria into severe inflationary pressures.
After his inauguration in May 2023, President Bola Tinubu, former Lagos governor, removed petrol subsidy and floated the naira. Petrol prices more than quadrupled, soaring from less than N200 per litre to over N1,100 in many parts of the country. The naira also took a nosedive, wobbling from around N700/$ to N1,600.
Food and commodity inflation have skyrocketed as Nigerians battle what can pass for the worst cost of living crisis since the country’s independence over six decades ago.
