President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's Independence Day broadcast has revealed his administration's determination to tackle the harsh effects of the fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians head-on.
The harsh effects of the fuel subsidy removal may be remarkably ameliorated in the months ahead following the President's announcement of far-reaching measures to bring relief to the populace.
Tackling the issue of wage award, which the Labour Unions have requested pending the outcome of a new minimum wage currently being negotiated, the President announced an approval of N25,000.00 in addition to the monthly pay of the average low-grade worker for the next six months.
More crucial to confronting the hardships occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy is transport fares which have gone up by almost 100 per cent in many parts of the country, following the discontinuance of the fuel subsidy regime.
In the months ahead, the Federal government will be deploying “cheaper, safer Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses across the nation.”
These buses, which are to operate at a fraction of the current fuel prices, are expected to remarkably bring down the transportation costs, a move economic watchers describe as a masterstroke in the move by the government to rejuvenate the economy.
To ensure the success of this scheme, CNG conversion kits will soon start arriving the country, while training facilities and workshops are to be set up immediately to provide new vista of opportunities for transport operators and entrepreneurs.
It was also learnt that the Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, DAPPMAN, may further be helping to ease transportation hardships through the donations of about 100 mass buses to the Federal Government.
It will be recalled that when the Association visited President Bola Tinubu in Abuja the 7th this year, its Chairman, Dame Winifred Akpani, disclosed to newsmen that DAPPMAN will be donating between 50 and 100 buses to the Federal Government as a demonstration of the Association’s support for the deregulation of the downstream sector of the Oil industry and to help cushion the harsh effects of fuel subsidy removal.
Sources close to the Association disclosed that many of those buses would be delivered to the Federal Government in the weeks ahead.
Said the source: ” The DAPPMAN initiative is a commendable one that will go a long way in practical terms to ease public transport problem in Nigeria. Now that they are about to deliver, one can only hope that other associations and interest groups will borrow a leaf from the association’s gesture which is aimed to bringing down the transport costs in Nigeria.”
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