Anita Edoh is the Head of Sales of an Abuja-based Estate investment firm whose office is located in the highbrow Wuse 2 district.
She resides in Sabon Gari ward of Mararaba in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
Mararaba is one of the densely populated communities on the fringes of Abuja where many of those who work in the capital city commute from to work daily.
Prior to the removal of subsidy on petrol by the federal government, Edoh’s transportation to and from work was about N700 naira.
This fare has since doubled as she now spends N1400 daily and may go higher as the price per litre of petrol has increased by about 216 per cent between May and July, 2023.
Edoh is among the many Nigerians who have been confronted with a new economic challenge following the removal of petrol subsidy and the attendant effects of the removal.
President Bola Tinubu had on May 29, in his inaugural address to the country, announced the removal of subsidy on petrol.
The subsidy regime was supposed to last till the end of June 2023 but immediately following the president’s announcement, marketers jerked up the price of the product from N195 to N540 and by July, it had risen to as high as N640 in some locations.
Following the increase, a lot of organisations, government and private, as well as individuals have adopted various measures to cope with the situation.
Edoh told 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE that to help its staff cope with the new challenge, her employer had increased staff salary by three per cent for commission agents, and also adjusted the weekly work hours of her and her other colleagues.
“We work six days in the week from Monday to Saturday. However, with the prevailing situation, we have been divided into two teams of four each.
“The full house reports to work on Monday and Wednesday, but on the other days, one team reports on Tuesday and Thursday while the other reports on Friday and Saturday,” she explained.
A few days back, the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) directed its members to adopt a two-day work week until the Federal Government yields to its demand of a 200 per cent increase in salary.
National President of the union, Smart Olugbeko said the decision was the outcome of its extraordinary meeting.
He decried the difficulty members of the union now go through to be able to get to work following the over 200 per cent hike in the price of petrol, a situation that worsened the inflationary rate on the cost of transportation, food and other essential commodities and impoverished the Nigerian people.
Olugbeko said the leadership of the union had been inundated by members’ complaints that they could no longer go to work as a result of hike in the price of petrol and resultant high cost of transportation and it became inevitable for the union to direct members to go to work only two days weekly.
He said a NEC meeting of the union will ratify the decision and decide the specific days of the week members were to go to work.
State governments are not left out as some of them have already adopted measures to ease the suffering of their citizens, particularly workers in their services.
In Edo State, Governor Godwin Obaseki who acknowledged that the high cost of transpiration and food was eating deep into the wages of workers announced a reduction in working days from five days a week to three until further notice.
The other two days, he said, will be for remote work.
Obaseki said the new work policy was to reduce the suffering of people.
Similarly, a spokesperson for the Kwara State government, Rafiu Ajakaiye, disclosed recently that the government had adopted a three-day work week because of the high cost of petrol.
“We are working out the modalities for the take-off of the policy to temporarily reduce work days to three, especially for school teachers, health, and judicial workers,” he said.
In Niger State, the House of Assembly has sent a proposal to the state government to reduce the number of working days for civil servants to cushion the effect of petrol subsidy removal.
The Assembly made the call in a resolution following a matter of urgent public importance raised by Mr Nasir Umar, member representing Paiko Constituency during plenary on Wednesday in Minna.
Speaker of the House, Mr Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, while reading the resolution, called on government to as a matter of urgency, reduce numbers of working days for civil servants and also put in place necessary measures that would cushion the hardship experienced by residents of the state as result of removal of fuel subsidy.
A civil servant in one of the federal ministries who craved anonymity, said to survive the hard times, he now budgets all his money and evaluates all expenses, in addition to reducing unnecessary outings and or using public transportation.
He further stated that together with some of his colleagues who live in the same neighbourhood, they now adopt carpooling to save money.
Stephanie Derrick, a civil servant in the Federal Ministry of Information, said even though there was no official policy, in her unit, she and other colleagues had come up with an interim arrangement whereby they alternate the days they physically report to work while they work remotely on other days, to save up on cost of transportation.
“In addition to that, nearly everyone in my office now brings their lunch from home as food is more expensive now and the quantity and quality has reduced. The government is yet to come up with any palliative measures that have reached the people or increase civil servant’s salaries so we need to be smart pending when there is a solution to our challenges,” she added.
For Daniel Atogo, a car dealer at Garki, Area 1, Abuja, the foreign exchange volatility, high custom duty, taxation and the recent increase in price of petrol had combined to almost put him out of business.
“The hike in the price of petrol has made many people not interested in getting their own cars now and I can tell you that sales have dropped.
“We buy dollar at N860 from the black market as there is no more government rate,” he lamented.
Hassan Bello, a tailor from Bakori local government, Katsina State complained of hardship in their business due to high cost of fuel and cost of living.
According to him, people were prioritizing their needs, with food naturally at the top and even the cost of food had risen so by the time people spend on food, they have nothing left for other needs like making clothes, thus heavily impacting his business negatively.
A Bolt driver in Abuja, Suleiman Hassan, said he was at the verge of leaving the business because of the high cost of petrol and low income, as the ride sharing company had yet to review fares.
He also said more people were now using shared taxi, popularly called along, and so patronage was less.
Ride-hailing drivers in Nigeria, operating under the umbrella of the Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transport Workers of Nigeria (AUATWON), recently said they were facing the worst hardships of their lives as a result of the removal of petrol subsidy.
According to them, they contend with fixed rates despite the subsidy removal, a situation that was killing them gradually.
— CNG to the rescue —
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has said one of the measures Nigerians can adopt to cope with the situation, particularly in terms of transportation is to adopt the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
CNG is an eco-friendly alternative to gasoline made by compressing natural gas (methane) down to less than 1 per cent of its volume. Experts say CNG fuel is safer than gasoline and diesel because it is non-toxic and does not contaminate ground water as it is natural.
Other advantages include reduction of carbon monoxide emissions by 90 to 97 per cent and reduction of vehicle noise by as much as 50 per cent compared to diesel vehicles.
IPMAN national president Chinedu Okoronkwo, recently said the association is 90 per cent ready to roll out CNG at the cost of about N100 to N110 per litre.
He said the gas could be used to power vehicles, generators, and even for cooking and is expected to reduce, to a large extent, the country’s exposure to fuel importation as natural gas would not be imported.
A report by PwC on Evaluating Nigeria’s Gas Value Chain shows that Nigeria has 202 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of untapped proven gas reserves, and an estimated recoverable gas at 139.4 tcf.
Okoronkwo pointed out that with increased awareness about its efficiency and affordability, compared to traditional fuels like diesel and petrol, more people were now converting their vehicles to become CNG powered.
He added that IPMAN had gotten a lot of buy-in from companies overseas.
“When you check what the impact will be, it will reduce the cost of food because people coming from the hinterlands bring food to the cities. From Kano, it takes them about N1.2 million to fuel trucks with diesel, but with this CNG, it will cost them about N150,000 to N200,000. About a million naira is saved and that will translate to cheaper food and open up a lot of other businesses.
“It will provide cheaper energy to drive the processing zones like the agro-based industries, where the gas will also create a lot of impact. CNG does not replace PMS, but it is a choice. We are talking of something that will help your purse and not deepen it.”
The Director of Gas Analytics and Solutions Limited, Shuaibu Bello, was also quoted in recent reports to have said that CNG would be a game-changer for Nigerians.
“This is the best palliative you can give the nation. If you talk of palliative, it is not just sharing money with people, it is creating a system that will reach the rich and the poor.
“If you compare CNG price at N110 per litre with petrol now at N540 or its former price of N185, still you will have a reduction,” he said.
