By Daniel Tyokua
Lamentations have greeted across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as the residents are being frustrated by the recent cost of transport fares that has almost double the previous ones.
Fundings showed that the cost of transport fare from Zuba in Gwagwalada Area Council to the Federal Secretariat is now N700.00, as against N300.00 before the announcement on the removal of the oil subsidy.
The cost of transportation fare from Karshi to the Federal Secretariat is now N700.00, as against N400.00 in the past, while the new one from Kuje to the Federal Secretariat has increased from N300.00 to N500.00.
A further investigation also shows that the transportation fare from Bwari to Berger, as against N500.00 before now, Nyanya to the Federal Secretariat is now N300.00, as against N200.00, while the fare from Banex Junction to Apo Bridge is now N300.00, as against N150.00, just as Wuse Market to Garki Area 11 is now N300.00 as against N200.00 in the past.
A civil servant, James Oche, who lives in Nyanya, said that the high cost transportation fare in the nation’s capital would definitely affect the salary of civil servants.
“The new transportation fare is very terrible, because the new increase will affect the take home pay for civil servants. To be frank, this will make the civil servants reduce the number of days they will be coming to work.”
A food vendor at Wuse Market, Maryam also said the new transport regime will affect the price of food she sells. “Before now, I used to sell a plate of food for N500.00, but it is now going for N700.00. This is because I have to recover the cost of my transportation to this place, including other expenses.”
The AUTHORITY also observed that the increase in the fuel pump price due to the announcement on the removal of the oil subsidy has reduced the number of vehicles on most Abuja roads.
Recall that in his inauguration speech on Monday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had said that subsidy was benefitting the rich at the expense of the poor.
“We commend the decision of the outgoing administration in phasing out the petrol subsidy regime which has increasingly favoured the rich more than the poor.
Subsidy can no longer justify its ever-increasing costs in the wake of drying resources. We shall instead re-channel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, health care and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions,” he said.
