YOBE state governor Mai Mala Buni has promised to provide shuttle buses at affordable cost for students, following the removal of fuel subsidy.
Buni’s Director-General, Press and Media Affairs, Mamma Mohammed, disclosed this in the state capital, Damaturu, on Saturday, July 22.
Mohammed added that farmers and traders would receive support from the government to mitigate effects of fuel subsidy removal.
“The government is conscious of the hardship caused by the subsidy removal and will look into these critical areas to provide palliatives to our people. We will look into ways of supporting inter- and intra-town transportation and other necessary services to our people.
“Similarly, the government would work out measures to provide shuttle buses to students of tertiary institutions at affordable costs,” he said.
Some other states have introduced palliative measures for citizens. In Kwara state, the government reduced work days for its staff from five times to thrice a week and introduced buses for its students.
Rivers state has also announced it would introduce buses to help mitigate the cost of transportation.
Following the declaration by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that “fuel subsidy is gone” and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) increased petrol pump price from less than N200 to over N500 per litre, there has been a surge in transport fares across the country, leaving commuters in agony.
In most parts of the country, transport costs rose by, at least, 50 per cent. The ICIR reported that residents had resorted to trekking long distances to conserve transport costs, while commercial vehicle operators suffered from low patronage.
In June, the Oyo State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Joshua Adekanye advised Nigerians to embrace the use of bicycle as an alternative means of transportation due to the fare surge.
Transport cost rose further after the NNPCL effected another change this month, taking the pump price of petrol to N617.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.