A man in northern Nigeria, who appeared in a video that has now gone viral on social media, was captured crying bitterly because he could not afford to pay the sum of 6,000 naira to fuel his motorbike.
This incident occurs amidst a fuel scarcity crisis affecting Nigerians, which has resulted in a spike in fuel prices amidst long queues.
Some filling stations were reported to have sold fuel for as high as 1,000 naira per litre, while black market fuel hawkers, who thrive whenever there is fuel scarcity, sold fuel for as high as 1,500 naira per litre.
It should be recalled that the policy of fuel subsidy removal was implemented by the former president Muhammadu Buhari and executed by the current president of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, when he ended the subsidy on May 29 during his inauguration speech, declaring that “the fuel subsidy is gone.”
Before the removal of fuel subsidies, fuel sold for about 200 Naira and was still considered expensive by most Nigerians.
The APC-led government, as well as other pro-subsidy removal advocates across different political parties like the PDP, Labour Party, and NNPP, argue that fuel subsidies only benefit rich Nigerians.
However, nearly one year after, there haven’t been any real benefits for poor and middle-class Nigerians.
As life appears to be worsening and inflation in the prices of food and other basic commodities continues to rise.
