Subsidy removal: Kwara civil servants get two days off each week

Civil servants in Kwara state have the government’s permission to work for three days – instead of five – a week, in response to a major rise in prices of petrol and transportation following the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government.

Gov AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq announced the measure on Monday at a meeting with the state leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress. Civil service officials are to work out the guidelines for implementing the directive, especially as it affects health workers and teachers.

– Why this matters

Nigerians are struggling to commute to their workplaces a week after President Bola Tinubu scrapped fuel subsidy, causing petrol prices to rise nearly threefold amid existing decades-high inflation.

After the announcement, the NNPC Ltd. raised prices from below N200 to N557 a litre, the widest margin of price increase of petrol in 30 years. By Monday, the cost of filling the tank of a 70-litre car had risen from about N13,000 to over N40,000.

The situation is telling severely on millions without cars. Some workers who live in Abuja suburbs, paid N2000, double of the previous fare, to get to work in the Wuse area.

Some offices have given their staff the permission to work remotely, Pluboard learnt.

The federal government says ending the over N4 trillion per annum fuel subsidy is needed to deliver on critical developmental projects, but analysts say the government should start by cutting the cost of governance and not simply transfer the subsidy burden on ordinary Nigerians, most of them poor.

They demand policies to protect the poor if fuel subsidy is removed.

“Removal of subsidy is definitely a painful decision that the government had to take in the larger interest of the country. It is the cheapest and most sustainable option available to curb criminal bleeding of the resources at the expense of the larger public,” Gov AbdulRazaq said, according to his office.

– Learn more

In November 2021, the former Buhari administration said it would pay N5000 monthly to poor Nigerians as transport grants if it removed subsidy. The Tinubu government has yet to make clear its plans for easing the pressure on citizens.

“Mr. President and all of us (Governors) really acknowledge the short-term pains that come with the development, but we are committed to making sure that the interest of the workers and the Nigerian people are protected,” Gov AbdulRazaq said.

“Now that subsidy has been removed as there is no provision for it in the budget anymore, the government is open to veritable ideas from the labour unions on how to redirect the savings for maximum public benefit, including pay rise.”