By DAVIS OBOJOBO

Barely 36 hours after the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) announced the official price for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at N511.00 (five hundred and eleven naira) per litre, the long queue experience at filling stations is now a thing of the past.

It was gathered that transport operators are complaining of the decline of passengers on the road while other motorist said that the new price of petrol was now beyond their regular purchase.

Commuters are not left out as they are lamenting that the fare hike was too much for them, stating that the fares been doubled due to the removal of fuel subsidy.

Although some respondents said that the removal of fuel subsidy was a welcome development, they condemned the timing, arguing that its abrupt introduction had dislocated their plans and finances.

Some public transport operators who narrated their ordeal said most people now resorted to trekking as a result of the increment in transport fare.

They appealed to President Bola Tinubu to initiate programmes to ease the sufferings of Nigerians as a result of the fuel subsidy removal.

The Secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Uvwie Branch, Hon. Benjamin Ebrusike acknowledged that there was little increment in the cost of transportation.

He appealed to commuters not to put the blame on transport operators, noting that the cost of petrol and spare parts for vehicles had increased due to fuel subsidy removal.

Ebrusike also appealed to the Federal Government of Nigeria to use the money meant for the payment of subsidy to build more infrastructures to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal.

It would be recalled that President Bola Tinubu on Monday, May 29, 2023, immediately after his swearing-in as the 16^thPresident of Nigeria, announced fuel subsidy removal. (Delta State News Bulletin)