By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
Photo credit: The Nation.
Many private car owners in Lokoja, Kogi State, north-central Nigeria, say they have been thrown into a serious dilemma as they have to choose between parking their cars and patronizing commercial transportation.
Some of this category of population in the state capital, in a separate interview with The Reporters in Lokoja on Thursday,said while fueling their cars in the era of removal of fuel had become a hard knock for them crack, the exorbitant transport fares had been giving them sleepless night as well.
"Mal. Sadik Ismaila, a civil servant who owns a car, told our correspondent that he stopped using his car to go office since the removal of fuel came into effect in Nigeria about two weeks ago.
" I can no longer afford to fuel my car since the federal government put an end to fuel subsidy, my dilemma got heightened as transport fares have continued to hit the roof almost beyond what I can afford," he lamented.
Other car owners such as Messrs Aliyu Mohammed, Bitrus Haruna, Oricha Muhammed, and Olu Adams among others toed the line of Ismaila, called on the federal government to quicken the process of working out palliatives to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal on the Nigerians masses.
An investigation by the online publication on Thursday revealed that some filling stations sold a liter of fuel for N542 instead of the official pump price of N537 allotted to Kogi State by the government.
Findings by our correspondent showed that transport fares, on most routes, in and outside Lokoja have gone up astronomically with passengers paying through the nose.
A trip from Ganaja to Felele, two suburbs of Lokoja, a distance of about 10 kilometers, which used to cost N300 has doubled, while a journey from the Post office, located in the heart of Lokoja increased from N200 to N500 as well and N50, being the least inter transport fare in Lokoja "is gone."
A journey from Lokoja to Okene, which was pegged at N1,500 has attracted an extra N1,000, while transport fares from Lokoja to Kabba, Idah, Ankpa, Ajaokuta, and Abuja have also doubled.
Our correspondent recalls that
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inaugurated the National Economic Council (NEC) the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday led by Vice President, Kashim Shettima.
President Tinubu urged the council to come up with ideas that would boost his administration, especially in transforming the economic fortunes of the country among others they would enable his administration to deliver on its promises to Nigerians
Comments
Post a Comment