By Linus Aleke, Abuja
The Chairman of, Guild of Public Affairs Analysts of Nigeria, Enugu State Chapter, Dr Ambrose Igboke, said, the federal government seems to have jettisoned long-term planning for knee-jerk approaches.
He noted that the cost of transport tripled because of the removal of fuel subsidy, which was not implemented in any strategy.
“Confused, the government went on a borrowing spree from the World Bank to pay the so-called conditional cash transfer to poor households. The cost of fuel when the Tinubu government took over was N165 per litre but today it is sold at prices ranging from ₦580 – ₦700, depending on which part of the country you are at,” he said.
Dr Igboke noted that when the President announced paying 50% of transport costs for travellers within two weeks, “I saw it as another ridicule on the suffering of the poor masses”.
He said that this is a mockery of the poor.
“You cause a problem, you make the masses pay more than 4 times the cost of petrol then turn round to offer them pittance as poverty alleviation is nothing but economic foodism,” he concluded.
On his part, a trader, Mr. Ossy Agbo, said that the federal government cannot stop amusing the citizens, with deceitful announcements.
Re-echoing the federal government’s pronouncement that trains services are free and transportation fare is subsidized by 50 per cent, Mr Agbo, queried, how?
Querying further, noted, “Let us ask ourselves some pertinent questions, do the federal government have any transport company operating inter-state services? If no is the answer, what modality did the government put in place to ensure that the money earmarked for this government bazaar is used for the above-stated purposes and not the usual job for friends and cronies of top government officials? You are a journalist, which committee is in charge of the implementation of this seemingly two weeks transport subsidy for Christmas? Is the government collaborating with transport companies to achieve this? Which transport companies are involved? There are lot of secrecy surrounding this subsidy. Another thing is, will it get to the intended beneficiaries? Let us also look at the train services, which train are we talking about? The one under construction or which one? I know of the Abuja – Kaduna corridor, which functions ones in a week since the terror attack on one of the trains. Then, the Lagos-Ibadan corridor, is there any other? Christmas is largely celebrated in the South, while, Sallah is largely celebrated in the North”.
The businessman asserted that train services are out of it in the south.
The highest travellers for Christmas in the south, he said are the Igbos and all the train lines connecting the southeast are moribund.
He, therefore, concluded that his candid opinion is that the federal government’s announcement is a ruse.
