The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has directed workers to boycott services of telecommunications giants: MTN, Airtel and Glo over the 50 percent tariff hikes.

The Central Working Committee of the labour union, made the announcement on Wednesday in a statement signed by its president, Joe Ajaero, and secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja.

It also urged other interested Nigerians to join the boycott, beginning from 11:00am on Thursday.

The statement read, “The CWC demands an immediate reversal of the tariff hike, which took effect today, and insists that the companies revert to the previous tariff until the committee completes its deliberations and reaches a conclusive agreement.

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“As a first step in resisting this arbitrary tariff hike, the CWC has directed that beginning Thursday, February 13, 2025, Nigerianworkers and other willing citizens shall boycott the services of MTN, AIRTEL, and GLO daily between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM until the end of February 2025.”

The congress criticised the government for failing to protect citizens from what it described as corporate exploitation.

“If the tariff hike is not reversed by February 29, 2025, the NLC will commence a nationwide telecom shutdown from March 1, 2025. The Congress urged civil society groups and all Nigerians to join the protest against exploitative economic policies,” it added.

MTN had begun implementation of the tariff increase hours after the House of Representatives asked the federal government to suspend it.