Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State and his commissioners, including his political aides have withdrawn patronage from MTN over the removal of MTN Call Centre from Jos on the basis of alleged insecurity.

The decision by the state government was announced Thursday at the state Executive Council meeting presided over by the governor.

The state Commissioner for Information, Mr Yiljab Abraham, while briefing journalists after the meeting, said the decision of the MTN to recall its call centre on grounds of insecurity was baseless as the same call centre was established in Jos in late 2010 and had been functioning well till recently when the issue of poor remuneration to over 1,700 staff became pronounced.

"If they closing down operation in Plateau on account of insecurity, what are they going to do with other call centres in crisis ridden parts of the country," he queried.

Abraham wondered why the MTN call centre workers in Jos should be made to collect monthly take home pay which was below what other MTN call centre members of staff collect on a monthly basis.

He said for this very reason, the state executive council, after looking carefully at the long battle the workers were subjected to by the management of MTN, the government had decided to black list MTN services in the state.

The National Union of Postal and Telecommunication Employees (NUPTE) MTN Jos Call Centre branch, Plateau State had called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to beam its searchlight on the activities of the Communication and Support Service Limited (CNSSL) over what the union described as unlawful deduction and unjust termination of employment of its members.