MANY primary school pupils and secondary school students were stranded at various bus stops Thursday morning in working class suburbs of both Abuja and neighbouring Nasarawa State over sharp increase in transport fare, following the increase in the pump price of petrol as a result of the removal of subsidy on petrol.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the students spotted had to resort to begging motorists and other passengers to ease their burden.
At the Durumi AP filling station junction where passengers often board vehicles, school children were seen sitting by the roadside for inability to pay their transport fares.
A student who identified herself as Aishat said from the junction to her school, she used to pay N100, but the commercial drivers now charge as much as N300.
She called on the federal government to quickly intervene by providing palliatives to help reduce their burden, adding that most of her colleagues might not attend school due to the hike.
Another student, John Aina, claimed that he used to pay N200 from the same junction to his school before subsidy removal, but now had to part with N500 to get to school.
Also, some of the students were spotted stranded at the Lugbe Airport road due to hike in fare. Another student who identified himself as Uche, said to get to his school from Lugbe Airport Road to Government Secondary School, Garki, it used to cost 200, but the subsidy removal has increased it to N500.
He also called on the government to look at the plight of students and urgently come to their aid by cushioning the effect of the subsidy removal on students.
It was a similar story on Nyanya, Karu, Kurudu , Orozo and Karshi axis of the FCT as well as Mararaba, One-Man Village and Ado settlements of Nasarawa State with many hundreds of pupils and students seen in the morning trekking to school and trekking back in the afternoon on Thursday.
Many of the students spoken to told National Record that they usually commute through Keke (commercial tricycle) and that the fares given to them by their parents were not enough due to the sharp increase.
Meanwhile many residents of the FCT have lamented the increase in transport fares as filling stations adjusted their pumps to the new price template provided by the NNPCL.
The residents, in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Gwagwalada, called on the government to reconsider the subsidy removal in the interest of the masses.
NAN reports that queues have resurfaced across petrol stations in the capital territory immediately the subsidy removal was announced.
According to them, the high cost of transportation fares will affect the prices of goods and services in the markets, which will affect the purchasing power of the ordinary Nigerians.
Mr Abraham Gado, a resident of Gwagwalada, told NAN that transportation fare to Area 1 from Gwagwalada now goes for N1, 000 as against N400 hitherto.
He said that following the announcement, many filling station owners in some areas locked up their stations, while those that opened sold the commodity for between N537 and N600.
“The oil marketers are also not fair to Nigerians; barely hours of the subsidy removal’s announcement, they just jerked up prices of petrol without exhausting the old stuck.
“I plead with the government to please rescind this decision and reverse to the old price to cushion the hardship that has started,” Gado urged.
Mrs Juliet Lewis, a resident of Abaji Area Council, said that the average Nigerians would be seriously affected,” because, once the price of petrol increases, the prices of everything will go up in the markets.”
She said that farmers in remote areas with difficult terrains would subsequently increase the prices of their farm produce.
“I am joining millions of Nigerians to call on the new government to have a rethink on the fuel subsidy removal,” Lewis said.
Another resident of Kuje Area Council, Salisu Sabo, said he could not believe that the transportation fares would increase so suddenly.
He said the new policy caught him unawares and had made it difficult for him to attend the programmes he earlier planned for, aside his official duties.
“I paid N500 to get to Lugbe this morning as against the previous price of N200.
“This time around, one has to plan well and manage the little money he or she has to avoid embarrassment,” Sabo said.
Mr Johnson Anibe, a civil servant said he paid N900 to get to his office in the morning as against N300, adding that on his way home he would pay more because of the rush hour.
NAN observes that the price of petrol in fuel stations had risen from N190 per litre to between N500 and N600 per litre. (NAN)
