Fuel subsidy removal: What Nigerians want as palliatives

 

Most Nigerians are finding it difficult to adjust to the high cost of living due to the fuel subsidy removal by the administration of President Bola Tinubu and its attendant skyrocketing prices of goods and services.

The removal of fuel subsidy on May 29, 2023, came with its bandwagon effect as the prices of goods and services took a spiral increase.

The talk between the government, labour unions and other critical players which resumes on June 19 is therefore one that many Nigerians are eager to see its outcome. For many Nigerians however, the talks with labour and other interest groups ought to have preceded the fuel subsidy removal.

Even before the fuel subsidy removal, many Nigerians including the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, had insisted that the fuel subsidy was hijacked by a cabal in the country.

While discussions are ongoing among all the key actors on modalities to cushion the hardship faced by citizens, some state governments have begun to roll out palliatives for the residents that include fewer days of work and school days.

It however remains to be seen if organised labour will at the end of the day be able to secure for civil servants increased incomes and wages that can balance out the cost of fuel and its economic impact as being demanded by workers; and if government will be able to control the spiral prices of goods and services.