Fuel subsidy removal by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has had a devastating effect on Nigerians, including rise in the costs of goods and services. The worst affected are the low-income earners who are living in abject poverty and struggling to make ends meet and presently ruing the situation; PAUL OKAH reports.
When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced in his inaugural speech on May 29 that “subsidy is gone,” not many Nigerians envisaged that the price of premium motor spirit (PMS), popularly known as fuel, would jump to N600 per litre within a few hours of the announcement.
While the citizens hitherto complained of fuel being sold at N195 per litre, the over 200 per cent increase have left them groaning as prices of goods and services have also risen geometrical increase to correspond with the realities on ground.
Expectedly, the worst hit are the low-income earners and the poor who struggled to make ends meet and have been caught unawares and in the middle of the crossfire, especially with the hike in transportation fares.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which initially planned a nationwide strike for June 7, to drive home the agony of Nigerians, had to postpone the industrial action, following the ruling of the National Industrial Court on June 5 against the strike, thereby abandoning Nigerians, especially workers, to their fate.
The agony
Speaking with Blueprint Weekend, a civil servant in Abuja, Mrs. Zainab Yakubu, said getting to work has been difficult as she has been faced with transportation challenges.
She said: “I am angry, I am heartbroken and I am concerned with what is happening in Nigeria today. Since last week, I have been greatly affected because of the fuel subsidy removal. I don’t have a car and depend on public transportation to get to work from Lugbe to the Federal Secretariat. Before the announcement by President Tinubu, I was spending N300 to get to work every day. However, it is N700 now. It is even higher when I close from work as there is often a rush to board vehicles. Therefore, I now spend N1, 500 everyday on transportation to and back from the office.
“It is not funny when I consider my salary. It is discouraging. Then there are other expenses, including feeding. What it means is that I will practically be earning nothing at the end of the month if I continue spending huge amounts of money just to get to work. I want to join millions of Nigerians to beg the government to intervene because we are suffering. It is inhuman for transport fare to be increased multiple times, so whatever needs to be done should be done quickly. People are even fighting with drivers at different bus stops, so the situation is not funny.”
Also speaking with our reporter, a secondary school teacher in Wuse, Abuja, Mr. Theophilus Nnaji, said food insecurity will also be experienced by Nigerians in the coming days as prices of goods and services have skyrocketed.
“As a teacher, I don’t get paid much, so you can imagine my predicament when I went to the market over the weekend to restock and discovered that prices of food stuff have increased. It seemed almost every trader wanted to get a cut from the fuel subsidy removal by adding N100, N200 or N500 to items that didn’t cost much before. End consumers are bearing the brunt because food is one of the basic necessities of life.
“My particular worry is the poorest of the poor because we all have to feed. Food prices are going beyond the reach of many Nigerians and that is another problem and will lead to massive unrest, insecurity and what have you. As things stand, prices of goods and services will continue to increase, which will equally plunge more people into poverty. We are really heading for different economic troubles if nothing is done fast,” he said.
Work-free days
Following the rise in transportation cost, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara state recently directed that the workdays of public workers be reduced from five days to three days per week.
The state’s Head of Service, Mrs. Susan Modupe Oluwole, announced the directive in Ilorin, saying that the state government approved the reduction as a temporary palliative measure to bring some ease to workers following the removal of petrol subsidy by the federal government.
Mrs. Oluwole directed all Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state to immediately work out a format indicating the alternating work days for each worker under them, but warned the workers not to abuse the magnanimity of the governor, stressing that the regular monitoring of MDAs by her office would be intensified to ensure strict compliance.
Similarly, in a post on his verified social media pages on Tuesday, Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki, empathised with the citizens over the removal of fuel subsidy, saying civil and public servants would work three days a week as against five days due to the rise in transportation.
Also, as a palliative measure, the governor increased the minimum wage paid to workers in the state from the approved N30,000 to N40,000, saying it will be increased even further if more allocation accrues to the state from the Federal Government, in view of the expected savings occasioned by the removal of the fuel subsidy.
He said, “In the wake of fuel subsidy removal by the federal government, fuel prices have increased astronomically leading to a rise in prices of goods and services and overall cost of living. The Edo state government shares the pains of our people and wants to assure everyone that we are standing with them in these very challenging times.
“As a proactive government, we have since taken the step to increase the minimum wage paid to workers in Edo State from the approved N30, 000 to N40, 000, the highest in the country today.
“We know the hardship that has been caused by this policy which has radically increased the cost of transportation, eating deep into the wages of workers in the State. Therefore, the Edo State Government is hereby reducing the number of work days that civil and public servants will have to commute to their workplaces from five days a week to three days a week.
“Similarly, for teachers and parents, their commuting to school will be reduced as the government is working on deepening the EdoBEST@Home initiative to create more virtual classes, thereby reducing the cost of commuting on parents, teachers and pupils. The Edo SUBEB will provide details on this initiative in the coming days.”
FG’s palliatives
Meanwhile, at the end of a meeting between the federal government and labour unions in Abuja on Monday, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the meeting proposed an alternative to the use of petrol by Nigerians as a way to cushion the effect of subsidy removal.
Gbajabiamila, who led the government delegation at the meeting, said the alternatives include the adoption of the use of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and the review of the inclusion of low-income earners in the World Bank Financed Cash Transfer scheme.
The two parties said the cost and efficiency of the CNG would bring a better and long lasting solution to the constant fluctuation in the price of petrol in the world market as the CNG is the cleanest burning fuel operating today and brings about less vehicle maintenance and longer engine life.
The other alternative agreed at the meeting is the inclusion of low-income earners in the World Bank financed cash transfer scheme, which is aimed at reducing poverty in the country.
According to a document obtained by this reporter, the resolutions are for the federal government, the TUC and the NLC to establish a joint committee to review the proposal for any wage increase or award and establish a framework and timeline for implementation, to review World Bank Financed Cash transfer scheme and propose inclusion of low-income earners in the programme and to revive the CNG conversion programme earlier agreed with Labour centres in 2021 and work out detailed implementation and timing.
Furthermore, the labour centres and the federal government are to review issues hindering effective delivery in the education sector and propose solutions for implementation, review and establish the framework for completion of the rehabilitation of the nation’s refineries.
The federal government is also to provide a framework for the maintenance of roads and expansion of rail networks across the country, while all other demands submitted by the TUC to the federal government will be assessed by the joint committee.
