Front line telecommunication company, Airtel Nigeria, owned by Bharti Airtel of India, came under fire from labour leaders and legislators yesterday over the purported sack of about 4,000 Nigerians working at its call centres across the country. In Abuja, the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), at a press conference, condemned the purported sack of the workers and threatened to shut down the offices of the network operator, just as the Lagos House of Assembly summoned the management of Airtel, to appear before its members next Tuesday to explain why it sacked the Nigerians and is replacing them with foreigners.

Also yesterday, spokesman of Airtel Nigeria, Emeka Opara, in a statement sent to a foreign news agency, said Airtel call centers had been closed, following threats from former workers to damage facilities.

According to Opara, sites in Abuja and Lagos, operated by Tech Mahindra Ltd. and Spanco Ltd., both of India, were shut September 30 after the operators “failed to reach agreement with workers on new employment terms.” Most of the sacked workers were on N75,000 per month, and were offered N30,000 per month, as a condition for renewal of their contract.
Explaining their side of the story, Tech Mahindra and Spanco said in an e-mailed statement yesterday, said the contracts of 4,000 workers, which ended on September 30 weren’t renewed as they sought new terms.

There are “plans to recruit new workers and offer some of the affected staff new contracts based on their qualifications,” according to the statement.

The lawmakers made the call after Lanre Oshun from Lagos Mainland II Constituency, under Matter of Urgent Public Importance, called the attention of his colleagues to the mass sack.

Oshun said that about 1,000 workers were sacked and replaced with Indians who were invited to the country, adding that the House should investigate the criteria used in carrying out the downsizing and recruiting.

He said that the Indians who replaced the Nigerians were placed on higher salaries and stated the need to ask “why Nigerians are being downgraded”.

Lawmakers, while debating the issue, raised concerns about the issue of consumer protection and violation of workers right, which they argued that foreign companies do not adhere to when dealing with Nigerian employees.

They stressed the need for the NCC to regulate the activities of the telecommunication industry to ensure that the rights of Nigerian workers were not trampled upon.

They resolved that the Assembly should invite the company to investigate the matter because the company was operating in Lagos and residents of the state were involved.

In his ruling, Speaker Adeyemi ikuforiji ruled that there was need for the Assembly to carry out “a fact finding mission” and invite the company.

He ruled after a unanimous vote that the company should appear before the Assembly on Tuesday October 11 at 10a.m..
Meanwhile, Airtel Nigeria said in Lagos on Monday that it had not sacked any of its employees and did not have any intention of cutting staff salaries.

Mr Jibril Saba, the organisation’s director, Human Resources, disclosed this at a media briefing following messages circulating in cyberspace, alleging that the company had fired 3,000 call centre agents.

“Airtel is committed to realising its vision of being the most loved brand in Nigeria and will continue to ensure that the dialogue between its call centre partners and their employees is fruitful and productive.

“We want to state categorically that as world class organisation, we offer our employees remuneration and benefits comparable to standards across the world and in compliance with the working and labour laws of Nigeria,'' he said.

Saba noted that “the activities of some disgruntled agents are capable of frustrating investors with good intentions and making nonsense of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).''

He added that the company was planning to employ more workers as part of the plan to reengineer the Nigerian economy.

“Our plan is to offer new contracts with attendant salaries and benefits based on qualifications and experiences.

“We will recruit new agents because the vision is to expand the call centre business in Nigeria to 5,000 capacity.''

The director gave the assurance that the company remained passionate in its quest to continue to provide customers with the best service. .
The telecom firm in India Bharti Airtel had in June, 2010 acquired most of Zain’s assets in Nigeria.