Fuel Hike: We Now Spend Over 50% of Our Salary on Transportation, Civil Servants Lament

As the cost of premium motor spirit continue to rise, civil servants in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are raising concerns over how fuelling their cars consume more than half of their monthly income.

Some of the civil servants, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said the recent increase in the pump price of petrol had further affected their finances, even as the value of the naira continue to depreciate.

The respondents say the development is making it difficult for them to meet other critical obligations like rent, housekeeping and electricity bills among others.

Nkechi Ugwu, a civil servant residing in Kubwa, said the cost of fueling her car had become a source of concern, adding that she spent over 70 per cent of her salary in fuelling her car.

She said she had to resort to public transportation at a point.

Mrs Ugwu, however, said resorting to public transportation did not help matters, saying, fare within the FCT had equally increased.

“I reside in Kubwa, one of the satellite towns and I drive to work on daily basis and I must say that the cost of transportation has increased tremendously.

“It became worse, especially for motorists, since the recent rise in pump price of petrol across the country.

“I realised I could no longer meet up with some obligations and I decided to calculate what was taking a toll on my income.

“I was shocked to realise that I was spending almost 70 per cent of my income on petrol, ” she said.

Mrs Ugwu called for a revamp of the transportation system in the FCT, and the country at large, adding that it would cushion the effect of rise in the pump price of petrol particularly for civil servants.

Godstime Inalegwu, another civil servant, who resides in Lugbe, urged government to explore the option of establishing metro stations to ease the discomfort suffered by residents.

“The rate at which fuel is consuming a major part of my salary is giving me so much concern.

“While salaries remain the same, the cost of things, particularly fuel has increased beyond measure,” he said.

He called for an urgent review of the minimum wage to enable civil servants meet at least basic needs.

Idachaba Audu, who resides at Karu Site in the FCT, said he decided to explore the option of public transportation as he was spending so much on fuelling his car.

He, however, said using public transportation was as expensive as using his car, adding that it was a dire situation that required government intervention.

According to him, unless something is done to tackle the problem, it may resort to man hour loss, as workers may not be able to go to work on a daily basis.

Most civil servants said they were going through the same experience, and called on the federal government to intervene by providing them with palliatives.

A survey in some parts of the FCT revealed that the pump price of petrol ranged from between N175 and N200.

Meanwhile, some of the fuelling stations visited had long queues.

NAN inquired to know why some fuelling stations had long queues while others did not, some of the motorists attributed it to the cost.

They said they would rather queue to buy petrol for N175 the official price than buy at N200, thereby, spend so much from their meagre income.

(NAN)