Reps to intervene on job losses in telecoms sector

A House of Representatives panel said yesterday that it would intervene in the massive job losses in the Nigerian telecommunications sector.

The adhoc committee probing the operational activities of telecoms sector chaired by Rep Ahmed Abu (APC, Niger) said it would meet with the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, and other stakeholders over the matter with a view to resolving it.

The committee’s resolve followed the position expressed by the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, who said the commission has limited powers on issues related to job losses based on the provisions of the Act establishing it, saying it was purely a labour matter.

Consequently, Rep Abu said they would meet Ngige and all other stakeholders on the matter, saying if action was not taken, more workers might lose their jobs in the industry.

He said the committee would also look at the issue of Nigerians being underpaid by foreign telecoms firms as there were many complaints on that before the committee.

“It’ll be irrelevant if we don’t interact with the labour ministry. Hopefully, we’ll do that in the next 10 days. We’ll call the people and hear from them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Danbatta told the committee that his commission would soon sanction any Mobile Network Operator (MNO) found guilty of infractions such as protracted call-drops and poor service delivery.

He said the sanction would serve as a deterrent to other MNOs whose services are poor, noting that the operators face myriad of challenges.

He added that NCC was in talks with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for operators to have easy access to foreign exchange for procuring necessary equipment to boost telecoms sector.