Before embarking on a spending spree during the yuletide, Peter Ohageme, a native of Egbu-Mbaise in Imo State had set aside N6, 000 to enable him go back to Abuja after the celebration. This has been Peter’s usual practice over the years which has been working for him. But this year, this arithmetic failed him. A journey from Owerri to Abuja which was normally N4, 500 (because of the rush which is characterised with the festivities) suddenly rose to N10, 000. When he sought to know the reason, he was told that the federal government had withdrawn subsidy on fuel. To pay his way back to his station, Peter had to sell his handset which he bought N18, 000 for N4, 000 (without SIM) to a willing buyer to complete his transport fare.
The withdrawal of fuel subsidy which came into effect on January 1 has subjected many people, who had travelled to the countryside to celebrate the yuletide with their relations, to untold hardship. At the federal secretariat in Abuja on Thursday, January 4, records showed that majority of civil servants were yet to report to work, three days after resumption of work for the year. A director in one of the ministries told this magazine that he had received a number of calls from his workers explaining their difficulty in raising transport fare to come back from the village. 
Mostly affected by the withdrawal were transport fare. Transporters who were waiting for any slightest opportunity quickly hiked transport fare by more than 100 percent.  A journey from Makurdi to Lagos which used to cost between N3, 500 and N4, 000 rose between N9, 000 to N10, 000. Similarly, a journey from Otupko to Makurdi which hitherto was N300 went to N700 while Makurdi to Gboko which was N300 now costs N600. The situation is the same across the country. In Enugu, transporters were charging between N10, 000 and N11, 000 for a journey to Lagos State as against N3, 000 before the increase in pump price of fuel while passengers going to Abuja had to cough out N7, 000 instead of N2,500 before the increase.
A journey from Uyo to Lagos State, which formerly cost N3, 200 now costs N11, 000, while Uyo to Abuja which was initially N3, 500 now goes for between N15, 000 and 17000. Investigation also showed that fares from Asaba to Lagos that was formerly N2, 000 climbed to N5, 000. Matthew Ufobi a timber dealer who came from Abuja to Awka in Anambra State for the yuletide said he had to borrow money from his uncle in the village to transport his family of four back to base. “I raised money to transport myself, my wife and children back to Abuja, because we had spent all the money we had on merriments. Another question is how we will survive from now onwards?” 
The hike in fare also affected intra-city services. A trip from Kubwa to Wuse in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, which earlier cost N100 now hovers around N200 and N300 while commuters from Suleja to Wuse now pay between N300 and N400 depending on the period as against N150 previously.
The transporters attribute the increase in fare to hike in pump price of fuel. A litre of premium motor spirit, PMS, which was N65, went up. Although the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, pegged the price at N143, the price of the product was sold at between N150 and N200 a litre. In Makurdi, the product is sold at between N150 and N180 per litre by independent marketers and N131 at NNPC mega station which usually witness long queue of vehicles. It is sold at N200 per litre at the black market. 
In Enugu, a litre of fuel sells at between N150 and N200 in the filling stations and between N138 and N139 at the NNPC mega stations. Before the increase, petrol was sold at between N70 and N75 in the city. The situation is the same in Abuja and other cities across the country.
An independent marketer, Chukwudi Ezinwa, who was the immediate past chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria IPMAN, Enugu State chapter told this magazine that there is a need to revitalise the nation’s four refineries and make work at full capacity. He blamed the differences in price across the country on non-functional petrol depots in most parts of the country.
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Benue State, Chief Abu King Shuluwa, said the policy would further widen the gap between the rich and the poor as it will lead to increase in cost of goods and services. A transporter, Paul Ubwa said subsidy removal is not bad if “the funds derived from it will be channeled into the rehabilitation of dilapidated infrastructures in the country.”
The policy is generating demonstrations across the country. In Benue State, the youths demonstrated peacefully through the streets of Makurdi. Armoured personnel carriers and anti-riot policemen stationed at strategic points in the state capital ensured there was no breakdown of law and order. Police public relations officer, PPRO of the state police command, ASP Alaribe Ejike told Newsworld on phone that the presence of police vehicles and officers were proactive measures to forestall break down of law and order. The state governor, Gabriel Suswam who spoke at a public function in Makurdi advised the people to instead support the president as the initial hardship that goes with the subsidy removal were some of the sacrifices the people needed to make for the development of the country.
Protests have also erupted in Abuja, Lagos and other parts of the country. But a measure to cushion the effect of the subsidy withdrawal, the federal government announced plan to import 1,600 diesel engine buses to be distributed to transporters across the country. It equally sets aside N10 billion revolving loan to transporters to buy fleets of vehicles to ease transportation. A committee headed by Christopher Kolade has been inaugurated to manage proceeds accruing from the subsidy withdrawal. 
President Goodluck Jonathan had listed among other projects, the construction or completion of eight major roads and two bridges, provision of healthcare for three million pregnant women, six railway projects, youth employment, mass transit, 19 irrigation projects, and rural and urban water supply, as what Nigerians stand to gain from the removal of petroleum subsidy.

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