President
Goodluck Jonathan has inaugurated 1,100 of 1,600 mass transit buses at the
Eagles Square, Abuja, as part of the palliative measures he promised Nigerians
to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy. He also said the scheme
was not put in place because of the removal of subsidy as “deregulation or no
deregulation, we need a mass transit scheme” in order to bring down cost of
transportation, pointing out that the increase in the cost of transportation due
to the subsidy removal was an over-reaction to the policy and regretted
commuters were being made to bear the brunt.
The
president noted that wagons and small buses were not suitable for mass transit
and therefore makes the cost high, hence the desire to introduce the mass
transit buses which he said were not being bought or run by the government. Jonathan, who appealed to Nigerians to be
patient as the pains engendered by the deregulation of the downstream sector
would be temporary, said that the policy would usher in an enduring gain that
would transform the economy.
Meanwhile,
members of the civil societies and Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) began
mass protests against the removal of fuel subsidy. Protests which
grounded the whole of Lagos also affected most state capitals throughout
the country, including Abuja, where security agencies battled to control
the situation. The Police was reported maintaining presence at every major
civic centre where protests were targeted by members of Labour and civil
societies.
a trendy africa media report
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