Students Protest over 50% Telecom Tariff Hike

A cross-section of students in Enugu State, on Wednesday,  appealed for the reversal of the 50 percent hike in tariff in telecommunication services due to prevailing socioeconomic hardship.

They were of the view that telecommunication services, such as internet data service, have enhanced learning and research work; making its usage indispensable to all students.

They made their feelings known in separate interviews while reacting to the telecom tariff hike with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Mr Divine Eze, a student of the Department of Environmental Management at the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus (UNEC), urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and telecom companies to consider the financial struggle of students and their parents.

Eze said that currently, most students cannot easily cope with the high cost of textbooks and other educational materials, which costs increased in the past few years.

“The only relief we have for now is the telecommunication services that had helped students to manage; thus, reducing the need for travels, time doing research and writing same research work and essential social media communication,” he said.

Speaking, a student of the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Mrs. Chiamaka Dike, called on NCC and telecom companies not to increase data service as it impacted negatively on learning and education the more.

“Usage of data has made me manage the N2,000 that my parents usually give to me monthly for GSM services.

“Many other students I know go through such strict conditions by using only data only when necessary,” Dike, who is of the Department of Banking and Finance, said.

Corroborating, Mr. Chidiebere Chimdobe, a student of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), noted that NCC and telecom companies failed to consult and carry all telecom stakeholders along in pushing for the hike.

Chimdobe said that the telecommunication services drove millions of soft jobs or e-jobs which students and fresh graduates engaged in within the past 10 years.

According to him, NCC and telecom companies are thoroughly insensitive to the hardship, daily struggles, and difficult plights of Nigerian youths, which majority are students.

“If they go ahead with the hike, it will further compound hardship and will increase social vices as well,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Progressive Students Movement (PSM), a pan-African students movement, has given an ultimatum of 72 hours to NCC and telecom companies to reverse the recent 50 percent hike in tariff.

The President of PSM, Mr Bestman Okereafor, called for the review and reversal in a statement made available to newsmen in Enugu.

Okereafor noted that the 50 percent increment at this time is “unjustifiable, untimely, and insensitive; hence the total rejection of this anti-masses increment.”

According to him, PSM is calling on NCC and telecommunications companies to review its stance as a matter of urgency.

He said, “The attention of PSM has been drawn to NCC’s approval of the Telecom operator’s 50 percent tariff increment.

“It will be recalled that telecom operators had previously demanded to adjust their tariff rate; a request which many Nigerians especially Nigerian students frowned at.

“Information at our disposal shows that NCC approved the telecom companies request in response to rising operational costs, at the detriment of Nigerians and the obvious economic realities facing the country.

“However, this development, which allows for a maximum of 50 percent adjustment to current tariffs, was announced in a statement signed by Reuben Muoka, the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, on Monday, Jan. 20.”

The PSM President warned that the entire student body would be protesting this abnormal and inconsiderate 50 percent increment in tariff if not reviewed in the next 72 hours. (NAN)