Subsidy Removal: Transport Fares Bite … As Residents Groan Over Food Prices

For the past two weeks, a day after the removal of petroleum subsidy, transport fares and food prices have risen in Port Harcourt and its environs.
Already, residents are groaning under the new price regime with attendant rise in transport fares. The Tide Metro investigations reveal that transport fares from Rumuokoro to Mile 1 Diobu which used to be N200 is now N300, while from Illoabuchi to Education which used to be N100 is now N150.
A taxi driver, who plies the Illoabuchi route, Ezekiel Nwankwo told The Tide Metro that the increment is due to the removal of subsidy on petrol which resulted to increase in pump price of fuel.
Nwankwo said,” Since last week, I have been buying fuel for N515 per litre and to fill my vehicle tank which is 80 litres is about N30,000.
Since he cannot fill his car tank, he said he buys a quarter tank which is about N5,150 for 10 litres to allow him make two or three trips,” the highest you can make from three trips is N6,000. So, after that how much do you take home?”
He stated that because of the rise in transport fare, many residents prefer to trek for short distances unlike before. “ We lack passengers these days”, he stated” and sometimes, we have to manage the ones we see because if you waste time for your vehicle to get full, some of the passengers will get down and trek”.
Similar experience was recounted by Mr. Gordons Georgewill, a retired military personnel who now keeps hmself busy with taxi driving.
Said Georgewill, “many of us run this taxi under franchise. We have to payback returns at the end of the day, and so if you buy fuel for N4,200 and end up in a day making N5,000, so how much is remaining?”
As far as he was concerned, the taxi drivers are not making gains now. We are trying to manage, so they should bring the price of fuel down. He related that for the past two weeks, most of the drivers have been running at loss.
Aside transport, food prices are not also spared. A plate of food which was N300 few weeks ago is now N500.
Ugochukwu Young who sells a restaurant told The Tide Metro that since the hike in fuel price, food items have also witnessed price additions.
According to Young, a custard rubber of garri which used to be N1, 400 is now N1,600. A wrap of fufu which was N100 before now is N200 while bigger wraps are sold for N250.
Ugochukwu said, “We sell according to how we buy from the market. A cup of rice is N200 and there is no way you will sell a plate of food for N300 with meat. It’s impossible. “
Manager of Inter Urban Transport Company in Port Harcourt, Etim Gad Sunday said they are losing passengers since the price hike. Inter urban plies between Bori and Port Harcourt, and used to cost N1000.
Sunday stated that since the company increased its fare to N1,500 many passengers have resorted to alternatives, “from what we have seen, many passengers prefer to take other routes to see how they can cut cost”.
The Tide Metro learnt that many workers and passengers who make daily trips to work now prefer to calculate their movements. One civil servant who sought for anonymity said, “I have decided not to go to work every day now because my salary can’t carry me through the month now that the transport fare is double”. An auto repair specialist, Emmanuel Bassey told The Tide Metro that those who have vehicles are also not spared from the situation.
Bassey revealed that auto parts have increased in price even as many car owners could not afford to fuel their vehicles.
Bassey explained that cost of changing oil in vehicles now has doubled, “ before now, it used to be N10,000 , but now, by the time you finish putting new oil and maintenance, you will have to spend up to N20,000”
What pains Bassey the more is the man-hour spent in buying fuel, “if you go to the filling stations, you will spend hours to buy at N511 and the queues are very long.”
The auto repairer pleaded on government to review the price of fuel, “if government can go back to the old price, then, things will change.”

By: Kevin Nengia