FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC SERVICES IN NIGERIA

A STUDY OF LAFIA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NASARAWA STATE

Abstract

It has been noticed that, since the inauguration of the newly elected president Bola Ahmed Tinibu on the 29^th May, 2023 where he unveiled the removal of the fuel subsidy, the prices of goods, transportation and general services has hike up. This has affected the living condition of people in the study area in terms of transportation fare, rising cost of goods and services in the market and devaluate workers monthly earnings. The objective of the study is to examine the effects of subsidy removal on transportation fare, workers monthly income, and peoples’ living standard. Data were gathered through primary and secondary sources. The research is anchored on system theory propounded by David Easton. The population of the study is 586,885 while the sample size is 400 drawn from the total population using Yamane formular. The research covers from 2017 – 2023. Data was analyzed through simple statistical percentage and in tabular format. The research indicates that, there is high cost of transportation in Lafia Local Government Area, leading to the high cost of goods in the market; it is also found that, it induces more hardship in the general livelihood of the citizens. Finally, the research recommends that, government should provide palliative as a measure to cushion the hardship induced on the people, government should also provide public transportation system in order to ease the cost of transportation among the citizens. Workers monthly earnings should be reviewed to accommodate the present challenges in the hike of prices every things in the labour market.