KWARA State government has reduced work days for its staff from five to thrice a week following the removal of fuel subsidy, which led to a surge in transportation costs.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Office of the Head of Service (OHOS), Murtala Atoyebi, on Monday, June 5.
“The State Head of Service, Mrs Susan Modupe Oluwole announced today that the State Governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has directed that the workdays be reduced from five days to three days per week for every worker.
“Mrs Oluwole directed all Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the State to immediately work out a format indicating the alternating work days for each worker under them,” the statement said.
The Head of Service warned workers against abusing the gesture, noting that her office will intensify the monitoring of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the state government.
After Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu declared that there would be no more subsidy for fuel, getting access to the product became difficult, as oil marketers shut down petrol stations across the country.
Kwara state governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq on May 30, threatened to revoke Certificates of Occupancy of fuel stations hoarding petrol and creating artificial scarcity.
However, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCLtd) increased the pump price of petrol by about 200 per cent a few days later, leading to a hike in transport fares.
In most parts of the country, transport costs rose by at least 100 per cent and the daily commute to work has become a difficulty for many Nigerians.
Some Nigerians have resorted to trekking long distances to reduce transport costs, while motorists complain of low patronage.
Oyo State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Joshua Adekanye advised Nigerians to embrace the use of bicycles as alternative means of transportation due to the price surge across the country.
“Use of bicycle is economically cheap because the cost of a bicycle is not as expensive as using a car or motorcycle,” he said.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via vopara@icirnigeria.org or @ije_le on Twitter.
