That Nigeria economy is in bad shape is absolutely too obvious, given the various economic indices, both from internal and external economic monitoring organizations which established this position through research based data.
In March this year, National Bureau of Statistics gave a verdict that the nation’s annual inflation rate rose to 22.22 per cent in April from 22.04 per cent in the previous month.
The NBS equally added that April 2023 inflation rate increased by 0.18 per cent when juxtaposed with what was obtainable in the preceding month of March 2023 headline inflation rate.
Additionally, the NBS’s account of food inflation rate indicated a rise to 24.61 per cent in April from 24.46 per cent in March. All the above and many more disturbing economic indices were when the price of fuel, a major economic stimulant was hovering around 200 naira.
With the Executive pronouncement of removal of subsidy on PMS at the inauguration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on 29th of May, all these have changed for the worst and by extension, the hash economic situation is menacingly bitting.
In a comic attempt to interrogate the impact of the removal of subsidy, a social media content recently said “President Bola Tinubu has not only solved persistent queue in many filling stations in Nigeria, but has also reduced gridlock and traffic congestion on our road.”
It thus means that any car owner that has continued to be on the road with his/her car after the removal of fuel subsidy should be seen as not struggling to survive, such individual must be among the comfortable Nigerians.
But against the backdrop of this position, a cursory look in the FCT has shown that many car owners, still cruising on the FCT roads might not be comfortable aftrall, subsidy removal has turned driving on Abuja road to _economic coping mechanism,_ this, they do in the name of Along along-a street lingo to invite commuters.
From Airport road, to Secretariat, from Mpape to Wuse, take a look at what happened between Banex towards Apo, Maraba, Nyanya to Kubwa, many of the private vehicles owners on the road have turned to pseudo-taxi operators.
The icing on the cake for them is the astronomical increase in the fare across different routes, the proceed from which has become another stream of money, or what many will tag side hustle, which at any rate is the motivation for the emergence taxi operators in private vehicles.
While going out in the morning, it has become usual scene for vehicles to be parked a distance away from major bus stop, scampering for commuters, and at the close of work in the evening, ‘Along’ is a booming business at the federal secretariat, the operators run the business with various type of cars, Honda, CRV, Toyota and even Lexus Jeep.
What however caught my attention was the involvement of women in this business, their fragility has given way to survival. For instance, from Area 11, precisely, Ahmadu Bello Way, onward Banex I saw many of them waiting for civil servants from FCDA to make their return trip. Indeed, Nigeria is a great setting to understand the concept of survival of the fittest.
_Dayo Ogunsola writes from Abuja._