Negative impact of subsidy removal on Nigerian students
By Yusuf kamariya
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his inaugural speech on the 29th of May at eagles square, Abuja, declared “subsidy” gone.
He said “Subsidy can no longer justify it’s ever increasing costs in the wake of drying resources, We shall instead rechannel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, health care and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions.”
This is supposed to make the life of it’s citizen better but reverse is the case. It is already more than two months now and we have not seen any of this promises been fulfilled, rather we have been seeing more hardship and the geometric increase in PMS price. The removal has increased the cost of production, increase in the cost of providing services, fall in the standard of living, increase in transportation and increase in the prices of goods and services. And the Nigerian student like my self are not left out of this hardship.
We were on holiday during the inauguration so i didn’t feel the removal that much because I was only within the envelope I lived, but when the school resumed I got to know that yes really subsidy is gone, from Abuja to Zaria that used to be 3500 is now 5000.From where i dropped to the main campus that used to be 200 is now 500 then I knew that yes subsidy is really gone.
The life of a student is rooted in movement from one place to another from attending lectures to libraries to going to source for materials and in doing so they have to make use of transportation but with hike of fuel price and the increase in transportation fare around the campus, with lots of students not being able to afford it.They have resulted to trekking long distance from their hostel to classes and thus arrive tired and weak which at times affect their concentration and assimilation in class.
In Ahmadu bello university Zaria for example, transport used to be 300 to and fro for students from Zaria city while those from Sabo will spend less than 500, but as the fuel price hiked, it now cost 500 for students from Zaria city making a total of 2500 monthly while those from Sabo spend 1000 daily making a total of 5000 a week, how will a student from an average home survive when our parents are also struggling to take care for our younger once, the school bus popularly known as “Aluta” that takes student from the Samaru campus to the Kongo campus that used to be 50 is now 200 all due to the subsidy removal. This has also made some students that leave off campus miss classes.
The subsidy removal has also affected the lives of our lectures, not all of them can run around with their vehicle the way they used to, some have decided to trek distances that are not long while others prefer going for public transportation, all these are evident in the empty parking space we are seeing in the parking lot.
You will think transportation and foodstuff are the only areas affected but the case is not as most student at this moment are full of fear and anxiety due to the new trend of school fees increment that other federal universities have adopted as a new method of assisting the school financially, most student will have to go through illegal means to get money to pay if not all, and those who are not able may end up dropping out of school and these will increase the rate of crime in the society.
The government should treat the fuel price hike with exigency and proffer solutions, rather than procuring palliatives or insisting on the student loan that is still at its early stage.
Yusuf kamariya, a 200 level student of Mass communication, Ahmadu Bello University, kamariyaabubakar@gmail.com 09052224313
