Food prices, transport fares increase in Ekiti as fuel subsidy removal bites harder

Uyai-Abasi Etido




Transportation fares and prices of essential goods and services shot up significantly in Ekiti State and across the country last week, as Nigerians grappled with the ripple effect of the government’s decision on fuel subsidy removal.

According to report, food prices and transport fares for intrastate and interstate commuting increased significantly in most parts of Nigeria.

NEWSTODAYNG recalled that queues on fuel returned to Nigerian cities last week Monday as motorists scrambled to get petroleum products hours after President Bola Tinubu announced that the government would put an end to the fuel subsidy regime.

Residents of Ekiti complained about the increase in transport fares, the prices of food commodities and other essential goods.

Nkiruka Romanus, a foodstuffs seller at Olojudo market, Ido Ekiti, said a 50kg bag of a short grain of foreign rice sold between N34,000 and N35,000 some weeks back is now selling for N37,000.

Mrs Romanus explained that the price increase resulted from the rise in transportation fares after the removal of the petroleum subsidy.

Kemi Ogundare, a frozen food seller in the same market, said a carton of frozen fish had only increased slightly, but she anticipated that in the coming week, there might be a further rise in price.

Idowu Akinola, on her part, said: “The cost of transportation due to the fuel subsidy removal was the reason for the high cost of most foodstuffs in the market now.”

Some traders at the market also lamented the low turnout of customers.

Bimbo Ogunsina, a foodstuffs seller, said, “Since the beginning of this problem called subsidy, things have never remained the same. There is a meagre turnout of customers compared to before. It’s like people are now trying to manage their income.”

A civil servant, Kennedy Okeke, said that the removal of the subsidy that led to the increase in the pump price of petroleum affected his transportation budget for the week.

“I used to budget at least N5,000 every week as transportation fare. But could you believe that the N5,000 doesn’t even last me for just three days due to the higher cost of fuel that affects transportation fares,” he said.