As FCT residents lament hardship over hike in transportation cost
Civil servants under the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, JNPSNC, Trade Union Side, have written to President Bola Tinubu, demanding an urgent intervention to address the worsening economic hardship facing workers and their dependants.
The workers called on the Federal Government to stabilise the price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, at N500 per litre, approve an immediate Wage Award and upwardly review salaries and allowances across the public service.
They also demanded the immediate constitution of a committee to negotiate a new National Minimum Wage ahead of January 2027.
In a letter addressed to the President at the State House, Abuja, the workers said the recent increase in fuel prices to N1,430 per litre and above in some locations had further worsened the cost-of-living crisis.
They gave the Federal Government until Wednesday, September 30, 2026, to take action on their demands, warning that the prevailing hardship was creating palpable tension among workers and Nigerians.
The JNPSNC said the removal of fuel subsidy three years ago had triggered an astronomical increase in fuel prices and produced multiplier effects on the prices of essential commodities across the economy.
The council said the situation had made life increasingly unbearable for workers, adding that the provision of food palliatives was not a sustainable solution to the economic crisis.
It said: “It has dawned on Nigerian workers that the provision of palliatives such as bags of rice, Indomie, vegetable oil, garri, among other edible foods, is as good as weaponising Nigerians with poverty because it is a Pyrrhic intervention which is unsustainable, inaccessible to the majority of Nigeria’s population and also limited to political cronies.”
The workers argued that a more sustainable intervention would be to reduce the cost of fuel to N500 per litre, saying the measure would have a multiplier effect across the economy.
“Consequent upon the above, it is preferable that the Federal Government should provide an intervention that will trickle down to all Nigerians by making fuel available at an affordable amount as low as N500 (five hundred Naira), the amount at which fuel was being sold when the subsidy was first removed in the year 2023,” they said.
The council identified the restoration of workers’ purchasing power, improved productivity and service delivery, promotion of integrity and accountability, and the reinforcement of trust and industrial peace as major reasons for its demand for improved remuneration.
On fuel prices, the workers said the government should “look inward and stabilize the prices of fuel to an affordable minimum,” arguing that fuel remained an essential commodity with significant implications for the Nigerian economy.
“As a matter of reality, the current hardship being faced by the hapless Nigerian workers is caused by the astronomical increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to as much as N1,430.00, or more per one litre (this is a killing amount),” the council stated.
The JNPSNC further called for an intervention fund for stakeholders in the oil sector to stabilise fuel prices and eventually bring the pump price down to N500 per litre.
The council said the government could adopt another description for the intervention if the term “fuel subsidy” was considered unacceptable.
“The fuel intervention fund will give the opportunity to every Nigerian to benefit from the intervention fund because it will have a multiplier effect in the life of every Nigerian and will naturally trickle down to the downtrodden and all the remotest parts of the country,” it said.
The council also endorsed a position attributed to Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Joe Ajaero, on measures to address the fuel crisis.
Ajaero was quoted as saying: “Nigeria, as an oil-producing country we have sufficient local refining capacity, even as this substantially resides with the private sector.”
He also said: “As a nation, and as a people endowed with enormous fossil resources, we are deserving of a certain level of protection or buffer against the gales from the Gulf, and indeed, other gales.”
According to the NLC position cited by the council, “As part of the process of creating this buffer government should sell sufficient crude in Naira to our local refineries; expand our national storage capacity in pursuance of meeting energy emergencies and security. These measures will create jobs, economic value as well as deal with mutating security challenges.”
Meanwhile, residents across FCT communities say persistent fuel price hikes have increased transportation, food and living costs, worsening economic hardship for households and businesses.
The residents spoke in interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Dei-Dei, Kubwa and Dutse.
They said the increase in petrol prices had pushed up transport fares, food prices and the cost of other essential goods and services.
Checks by NAN indicate that petrol now sells between N1,450 and N1,500 per litre at many filling stations in Abuja, compared with about N1,200 and N1,280 per litre before the latest increases.
A commercial driver in Dei-Dei, Mr Sunny Peter, attributed the increase in transport fares to the rising cost of petrol.
According to him, drivers have no option but to adjust fares because fuel now accounts for a greater share of their operating costs.
“Fare from Dei-Dei to Berger, which previously ranged between N900 and N1000, now costs about N1,200 to N1,500, depending on traffic and demand,” he said.
Peter added that passengers commuting from Kubwa to Wuse now pay between N1,000 and N1,200, against N700 and N800 previously.
“We understand the challenges passengers face, but we also have to survive. Fuel is expensive, and maintaining our vehicles is becoming more difficult,” he said.
A civil servant in Kubwa, Mrs Adaeze Okoli, said the rising transport fares had made commuting to work increasingly difficult.
According to her, a significant portion of her monthly salary is now spent on transportation, leaving little for feeding, rent and other necessities.
“The cost of living keeps rising while our income remains the same. Every fuel increase affects everything we buy,” she said.
Another resident, Mr Abdullahi Sani, said commuting to work had become more challenging due to the steady rise in transport costs.
“My salary has remained the same, but transport costs continue to rise. I now spend far more than I did a few months ago just getting to work.
“Many families now struggle to meet their basic needs because a larger share of their income is spent on transportation and household expenses,” he said.
In Dutse, Mrs Esther Okeke, a mother of six, said the fuel price increase had affected virtually every aspect of family life.
“Food prices, school, transportation and electricity costs have all increased. Managing the family budget has become more difficult,” she said.
She appealed to the government to introduce measures that would cushion the impact of fuel price increases on transport operators and commuters.
Another resident, Mr Muhammed Lawal, said many families were finding it increasingly difficult to meet their daily needs.
He urged the government to improve public transportation and stabilise fuel prices to reduce hardship on residents.
Some respondents also called for the introduction of affordable mass transit buses on major routes within the FCT to ease the burden on commuters.
They expressed hope that measures to reduce transportation costs would also help lower the prices of food and other essential commodities.
NAN recalls that the Federal Government, in August, inaugurated 100 Renewed Hope Mass Transit electric buses for civil servants.
The buses are to provide safer, more affordable and reliable transportation for federal civil servants nationwide.
Former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, at the commissioning of the buses in Abuja, said the initiative represented a practical demonstration of the Federal Government’s commitment to the welfare and well-being of civil servants.
She said 37 of the 100 electric buses had been delivered as the first instalment of the project, while the remaining buses are expected to be deployed as planned.
It is hoped that the deployment of these buses will ease transportation costs for workers.
