Nigerians have expressed outrage as telecoms giant, MTN increased price of data, calls and other services.

On Tuesday morning, February 11, 2025, many subscribers in Nigeria took to social media to criticise the increase, calling it exploitative and unfair, especially amid rising economic hardships.

Apparently, the weekly data package of 15GB which initially cost N2,000 only days ago unexpectedly surged to a whooping N6,000

An user, @gbolahan2211 said: “Imagine MTN @MTNNG increasing their tariff 15gb overnight without prior notice to customers. This is no way to do things man. I even sent them a message and they told me cause they wanna serve me better. Damn!!”

Another user @GIFTy6286 wrote: “If they like they should increase it to 1m,we will survive”

@AfrokonnectNG reacted: “This sudden price increase from ₦2,000 to ₦6,000 for 15GB is wild! How are people supposed to cope with such an outrageous hike? Internet access is essential for work, education, and staying connected, yet it’s being priced like a luxury.

“At this rate, users may be forced to look for alternatives or reduce their data consumption drastically. MTN really needs to reconsider this move because it’s not sustainable for the average Nigerian. What do you think about this development?”

@Gorilla23mp asked: “But this is almost 200% increment, I thought they said it won’t be up to 100%?”

@TheSilvapr lamented; “Nigeria is a very difficult place to live in honestly. MTN waking up one day to increase their weekly 15gb data from 2k to 6k without prior warning is textbook insanity.

“That’s 24k in a month, almost the minimum wage of the country on data, bruh, this is hell.”

While the telecom giant has yet to comment on the situation, observations suggest it may have begun implementing the 50% tariff hike approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Recall that on January 20, the NCC in a statement by its Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, said implentation of the 50% tariff hike will begin in February, adding that the adjustment, though lower than the over 100 per cent requested by some network operators, was arrived at taking into account ongoing industry reforms that will positively influence sustainability.

“These adjustments will remain within the tariff bands stipulated in the 2013 NCC Cost Study, and requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis as is the Commission’s standard practice for tariff reviews. It will be implemented in strict adherence to the recently issued NCC Guidance on Tariff Simplification, 2024.

“Tariff rates have remained static since 2013, despite the increasing costs of operation faced by telecom operators. The approved adjustment is aimed at addressing the significant gap between operational costs and current tariffs while ensuring that the delivery of services to consumers is not compromised”, the NCC said.

Parents of four British teenagers who believe that their children died after participating in viral trends (challenge) that circulated on TikTok in 2022 have sued the video-sharing platform.

According to the parents, the children, Isaac Kenevan, Archie Battersbee, Julian “Jools” Sweeney and Maia Walsh, died while attempting the trend called “blackout challenge”.

BBC reports that the US-based Social Media Victims Law Center filed the lawsuit on Thursday against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance on behalf of the children’s parents.

Meanwhile, searches for videos or hashtags related to the challenge on TikTok have been blocked since 2020.

TikTok had clarified that it prohibits dangerous content or challenges on the platform, and directs those who search for hashtags or videos to its Safety Centre.

The complaint was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware on behalf of Isaac’s mum Lisa Kenevan, Archie’s mother Hollie Dance, Jools’ mother Ellen Roome and Maia’s dad Liam Walsh.

It claims the deaths were “the foreseeable result of ByteDance’s engineered addiction-by-design and programming decisions”, which were “aimed at pushing children into maximizing their engagement with TikTok by any means necessary”.

Nearly three and a half decades after leaving the Soviet Union, the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this weekend will flip a switch to end electricity-grid connections to neighbouring Russia and Belarus — and lean in more with their European Union allies.

The severing of electricity ties to oil- and gas-rich Russia is steeped in geopolitical and symbolic significance.

Work toward it sped up after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine three years ago, battering Moscow’s EU relations.

“This is physical disconnection from the last remaining element of our reliance on the Russian and Belorussian energy system,” said Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and other dignitaries are expected for a ceremony on Sunday as a specially-made 9-meter tall clock in downtown Vilnius counts down the final seconds of the Baltic states’ electricity ties to Russia.

Sixteen power lines that used to connect three Baltic states with Russia and Belarus were dismantled over the years as a new grid linking them with the rest of the EU was created, including underwater cables in the Baltic Sea.

On Saturday, all remaining transmission lines connecting the Baltic countries with Russia, Belarus, and Russia’s Kaliningrad — a Russian exclave wedged between EU members Poland and Lithuania and the sea — will be switched off one by one.

Then, for 24 hours, the Baltic Power System will operate solo in a so-called “island operation mode.”

The next day, the power system is set to merge with the Continental European and Nordic grids through several links with Finland, Sweden and Poland.

The three Baltic countries, which together have a 1,633-kilometre-long (1,015-mile) border with Russia and Belarus, officially informed Moscow and Minsk of the disconnection plan in July.

Despite the advance notice, the Baltic nations are still on watch for a possible response from their former Soviet partners.

Some in the region were taking precautionary measures. Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR has reported surging sales of generators.