Nigerian officials concerned as NITEL strike takes toll

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country's national regulator, has expressed concern over the ongoing strike by employees of Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) and its mobile communication arm, Mobile Telecom (MTel).

Staffers at the company said they went on strike because Transcorp, the parent corporations of NITEL and Mobile Telecom, failed to live up to an April 1 agreement to settle, within two weeks, all arrears on back pay.

Transcorp claims it has paid money to offset the outstanding salaries of NITEL and MTel staff and described the action as provocative.

NCC spokesman Dave Imoko in a press statement said the regulator is dismayed that the strike has resulted in the shutting down of NITEL's network.

NITEL is the major national carrier in the country, with licenses spanning provision of landline services to many government agencies and major corporate organizations nationwide.

Imoko also noted that, through the SAT-3 Cable infrastructure, NITEL provides a major international link from Nigeria to the world. He pointed out that as a consequence of the strike, subscribers who rely on NITEL's fixed lines would invariably resort to patronizing other service providers, thus increasing the congestion on those networks.

In addition, he said that the disruption in the SAT-3 Cable infrastructure would result in many subscribers from various networks in the country making fruitless attempts to reach international destinations.

"These have the combined effect of adding to the frustrations of subscribers as well as promoting network congestion," the commission said in a news release.

NCC has therefore alerted telecom subscribers in the country about the development while expressing the hope that the problem between NITEL workers and their management will be resolved as soon as possible.