Commuters groan as fuel price hike spikes transportation fare
Rising price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol has triggered an astronomic surge in transportation costs across the country with commuters paying more than double the fare they paid for same trips prior to the removal of subsidy on fuel.
It was learnt that Premium Motor Spirit which has since risen to an all time high of N610, N630 and N700 per liter in parts of the country including Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Bauchi among other has left many motorists and commuters lamenting the attendant spike in transportation costs
Investigation in parts of Enugu State Awkunanaw, Abakpa Nike and Obiagu areas on Wednesday showed that though product are available in most stations, its soaring prices have forced many people to resort to trekking long distances to their offices and workplaces.
Transportation cost in Enugu metropolis for instance has also increased by about 50 per cent as movement from Gariki to New market which used to cost N250 has gone to over N350 per drop.
Also, from Mayor junction to the Holy Ghost market which used to cost N200 now goes for N250.
Also, from Obiagu to New Market, New Heaven and Abakpa that used to cost N150 is now N200 respectively by small mini bus.
A Secondary School student, Margaret Edeh, who goes to WTC from Awkunanaw every morning said she paid N200 instead of N150.
“I can’t wait for schools to close so that my parents can make some savings. They are spending a lot on my siblings and I just on transport alone,“ she said.
A bus driver, Mr Nelson Igwebuike, lamented the hike in price of petrol, describing it as wrong.
“Where do we run to in this country. It appears that every government is just interested in making things difficult for the poor masses,” he said.
A civil servant Mrs Obiageli Okoli, said she would discuss with her superior in the office on number of days to go to the office.
“I live far from the office; therefore, I cannot be going to the office everyday. I will discuss with my boss because I can’t cope, ” she said.
In Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital, commuters bemoaned the spike in transportation cost following the Tuesday’s increase in pump price of fuel. Cost of transportation has risen across various destination with many commuters preferring to trek to their offices and business places.
In Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, it was the same sorry tale by transporters and commuters who are finding it extremely hard to make ends meet with the spiraling food inflation and soaring transportation costs.
Meanwhile an Economist, Prof. Evans Osabuohien, has appealed to Federal Government to make concerted efforts to resuscitate the nation’s refineries, to reduce ripple effects of the hike in petrol price on the masses.
Osabuohien, who is also the Head, Department of Economics, Covenant University, Ota, made the appeal Wednesday in Ota, Ogun.
He spoke against the backdrop of the announcement by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL), that the pump price of petrol had been adjusted to between N580 and N617 per litre.
The university don blame the ugly experiences of most Nigerians on the devaluation of Naira and floating of exchange rate are responsible for the new pump price of petrol.
“If the nation is exporting, that would have made our goods cheapter and the country would have a competitive market, but we imported much, which has a double tragedy impact on the exchange rate.
“In addition, the nation exports petrol products and in return, brings refined products into the country, thus having ripple effects on the economy.” he said.
The commuters pains are also coming as roadside automobile mechanics in Bauchi are lamenting that the recurrent increase in fuel prices has paralysed their business and threatening to cripple transportation in the state.
According to them, since the announcement of fuel subsidy removal, transportation businesses have been very low in most part of the state especially automobile mechanics.
Some mechanics interviewed on Wednesday in Bauchi said the removal of fuel subsidy has affected their services negatively.
Malam Abbati Usman, a mechanic at Yankari workshop, said the number of vehicles that patronised his workshop had dropped drastically.
“Hike in the price of fuel has forced many car owners to park their vehicles at home, which consequently, reduced the vehicles that come for services to my garage,’’ he sai
Malam Hamza Dangombe, a Mercedes Benz mechanic, said, “our situation is so bad to the extent that most mechanics are thrown out of jobs, no patronage from customers as a result of fuel hike because we are less engaged.
“Our Customers can’t afford fuel at the rate of N630 even when it was sold N550 per liter, many vehicles are parked already.“My apprentices that live close to garage have stopped coming to work, except few who sometimes trek to come,” he said.
Another mechanic, Mr Timothy Audu said “Unlike before, this garage that was busy is now virtually empty , no new customers , the old ones have abandoned their vehicles in the garage and no money to buy fuel,’’ Audu said.
According to him, we used to work on not fewer than 10 to 13 vehicles every day, but we hardly see two or three vehicles coming to the garage today.
“We are left with no option than to look for alternative job; we can’t continue this way, government should do something please,” Audu said.
Mr Audu Bello, a Civil Servant said that he had parked his car at home to save cost of transportation following hike in fuel price
The economist urged the Federal Government to urgently put the nation’s refineries in good condition so that the double effects of importing refined petrol product could be drastically reduced.
Osabuohien emphasised the need to urgently formulate policies and fashion palliative measures that would cushion the huge effects of hike of petrol price on Nigerians.
He said that the Federal Government needed to set thing in motion so that the nation could begin to refine its petroleum products locally, instead of importing finished products into the country.
The economist said that the impacts were so much because those that imported refined products into the county needed to translate it to naira equivalent.
Osabuohien added that if the country had not been importing refined products, the effects would not have been much on the economy.
He said that the Federal Government needed to put back part of the subsidy removal into economy to ameliorate the ripple effects on the people.
