Subsidy Removal: Transportation Fare Rises By 100% In Lagos, Ogun

Following President Bola Tinubu’s inaugural speech on Monday, that subsidy for premium motor spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, is no longer in existence, transportation fare in Lagos and Ogun States has risen by 100 percent.

“On fuel subsidy, the budget I met before I assumed office and what I heard is that there is no provision for subsidy. Fuel subsidy is gone,” Tinubu had said.

Checks by our correspondent on Tuesday showed that a trip from Toll-Gate to Ikeja-Along and Oshodi, which before now was between N400 and N500 is now N1,000. Also, a trip from Toll-Gate to Kola, which used to be N100 is now N200, while a trip from Ijaiye to Agege, which was N200 before is now N400.

Our correspondent also observed that most of the Independent petrol marketers were not dispensing petrol, while few who were dispensing petrol, were selling above the regulated pump price of N184 per litre. They were selling between N350 and N400 per litre.

Although major marketers were selling the product at N185 per litre, there were long queues.

Some of the motorists who spoke to our correspondent at one of the filling stations own by a major marketer said they had spent more than five hours in queue.

Meanwhile, the sudden increase in transportation fare is taking a toll on commuters. A worker, Joseph Alaraye who spoke with our correspondent lamented that he spent twice what he had budgeted for transportation today.

According to him, he had to break his trip from Ikeja to Abule-Egba into sections, because taking a direct bus from Ikeja would be more expensive.

“This thing is not good. The president did not even say he has removed the subsidy, and people started doing this,” said Alaraye.

Another worker, Yemi Adegoke said Tinubu should have taken time to study the environment before making comment on subsidy, adding that if not for his statement the current situation would have been avoided.

“The cost of transportation is way, way too high. And again, the number of people on (the) road now, even to get bus to your destination is very hard,” Adegoke told THE WHISTLER.

Opeyemi Adeboye works in Victoria Island and currently spends about N2,500 to and fro. Although most times she works within the Abule-Egba area, she does not know how she will cope with the current cost of transportation.

“I don’t know how someone will cope with this,” she told THE WHISTLER. “I just hope the government will cushion the effect with some palliatives,”

In the 2023 budget, the federal government had made provisions of N3.36trn for fuel subsidy payment to cover the first six months of this year.

This is in line with the 18-month extension announced in early 2022 by the government.

Already, a Subsidy Removal Committee had been set up which comprises the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the downstream and upstream regulators, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Chief Economic Adviser to the President.

Although the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) makes no provision for petrol subsidy, the 2023 Fiscal Framework and Appropriation Act made the provision that government should exit petrol subsidy by June 2023.