Nigerian students decry telcos’ 50% tariff hike, give 72 hours to reverse rates

A cross-section of students in Enugu, on Wednesday, appealed for the reversal of the 50 per cent hike in tariff in telecommunication services due to prevailing socioeconomic hardship. In separate interviews, they made their feelings known while reacting to the telecom tariff hike. Divine Eze, a Department of Environmental Management student at the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and telecom companies to consider the financial struggle of students and their parents. Mr Eze said most students cannot easily cope with the high cost of textbooks and other educational materials, which has increased in the past few years.
Speaking, a student of the Institute of Management and Technology, Chiamaka Dike, called on NCC and telecom companies not to increase the price of data service. “Usage of data has made me manage the N2,000 that my parents usually give me monthly for GSM services. Many other students I know go through such strict conditions by using only data only when necessary,” Ms Dike, who is of the Department of Banking and Finance, said. Chidiebere Chimdobe, an Enugu State University of Science and Technology student, noted that NCC and telecom companies failed to consult and carry all telecom stakeholders in pushing for the hike. Mr Chimdobe said that the telecommunication services drove millions of soft jobs or e-jobs in which students and fresh graduates engaged 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, the majority of whom 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, a pan-African students movement, has given an ultimatum of 72 hours to NCC and telecom companies to reverse the recent 50 per cent hike in tariff. PSM president Bestman Okereafor called for the review and reversal in a statement. Mr Okereafor noted that the 50 per cent increment at this time is “unjustifiable, untimely, and insensitive; hence the total rejection of this anti-masses increment.” PSM warned that all students’ bodies would protest the “abnormal” and “inconsiderate” 50 per cent tariff hike “if not reviewed in the next 72 hours.” NAN