DEATH SENTENCE: Traders, Residents Groan as Fuel Hike Suffocates Kano Businesses
By Ozumi Abdul,
Before now, life had almost become agonizing and excruciating for many of them. But it appears the recent hike in fuel price to about N617 is the last straw that will break the back of teeming Kano residents.
Recalled that the price of Petrol Motor Spirit, PMS, commonly known as petrol ballooned to about N537 from N197, after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, announced the removal of subsidy during his May 29 inauguration.
However, life has been brutish for many Nigerians, and people of Kano since the presidential directive on ending the payment of subsidy on petrol. Politics Digest gathered that from transportation fare to food stuff and prices of commodities, there is none that has remained the same.
The prices of essential good and services needed by many Kano residents skyrocketed. Like other citizens across the federation, many car-owners in the State have, in the aftermath of the May 29 fuel price hike, parked their vehicles and resorted to public transport. Some others even sold their cars.
In a chat with Politics Digest, Suleiman (who did not mention his surname) a soft drink hawker, bemoaned the latest increment on the pump price.
“The low vehicular traffic on the road now, occasioned by the recent fuel hike, has in a way also affected my sale. I hardly make a reasonable profit from the software I routinely hawk, and get patronage from motorists and commuters,” Suleiman, who conducts his hawking business along Kabuga Road, said.
He however, appealed to the federal government to either revert the policy or put necessary interventions on ground to cushion its harsh implications on the masses.
“Like today, you can see for yourself how the entire place is deserted without people. And this our business is what helps us to make ends meet.
“What we normally do is that we get the drinks from our retailers on credit. After the close of daily sales, we pay them and take whatever remains as our profits. But look at what is happening to us now,” said Suleiman, who is only 22 years-old.
As for a bottle water hawker, Hashim, the hike in the price of PMS is more of a ‘double wahala’ for him. Hashim, who is from a community in Kazaure local government area of Jigawa State, does his hawking trade in Kano and returns to Kazaure, after every two days, to be with his heavily-pregnant wife.
He lamented the increment in fuel price, saying it had made life unbearable for him. Hashim, who is in his late 30s, said his business has suffered a downturn in sales, even as the transport fare from Kano to Kazaure is now N2,000, as against N700 before now.
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“Any government that has no human empathy, especially for the hapless masses is an insensitive and bad government.
“Look at what the Buhari government did to us, despite the overwhelming goodwill he got from the masses. We thought Tinubu’s coming will at least put smiles on our faces, but unfortunately his coming has worsened our situation, by his singular action of removing subsidy.
“Like me now, I have a pregnant wife in my hometown. Can this economy allow me to go and be seeing her often? These people are gradually stuffing life out of us”.
Emmanuel is an operator of an hair saloon around in Kabuga, called Emmanet. To him, this is the best time to throw banter at the supporters of President Tinubu during the general election.
“He came to tell you people “Emilokan” and you are shouting Jagaban upandan,” he said, apparently referring to Tinubu’s tirade in a gathering in Ogun State, ahead of the APC presidential convention, in May last year.
“He said we will eat ewa and agbado (beans and maize in Yoruba). Now, ordinary garri we no see chop,” Emmanuel added, bursting into laughter.
“This one na the beginning o. Las las, na all of us go suffer am,” he submitted.
In Dorowa Yankifi at Rijiyar Zaki, immediately after Kabuga Road, close to Bayero University Kano (BUK) is Mallam Jamilu, a foodstuff seller.
Jamilu, like Hashim and Suleiman, is also not finding it funny. He told Politics Digest that the fuel hike has also affected his business, since most of his food provision are bought from the villages in Kano, which are several kilometres away from the metropolis.
“Grains such as maize that we buy for N600 is now N1,200. The same goes for millets and guinea corn. What we are facing in this country is terrible. Only God can intervene?
“Before our loads even get to the metropolis, the cost of transport fares due to this subsidy removal has taken all the gains we have on them. Most of us are still in the business because people have known us with it.
“In fact, I feel ashamed to tell my customers that the maize they normally buy for N600 per mudu is now N1,200. But it is not my fault, either. I don’t want to lose as a businessman,” he said.
A resident of Dorayi Baba, Mallam Haliru said the federal government has pushed the citizens to the wall, with its ‘callous’ implementation of the no-subsidy policy.
“What the government ought to have done first is to revive our refineries; this should have come before removal of subsidy.
“You cannot depend on total importation of fuel and quickly remove subsidies.
“I advise the government to review the policy, because it will get to a point where the masses will revolt.
“The suffering is excruciating; something has to be done about it, very quickly too,” he cautioned.
