Fuel Subsidy Removal: We Won’t Increase Fares – Airport Cab Operators Assure Commuters

Cab operators at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos have assured commuters that they would not hike transportation fares, following the removal of fuel subsidy by government.

Olalekan Agboola, General Secretary, Airport Cab Operators, gave the assurance while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.

NAN reports that the government had on Wednesday announced the removal of subsidy for petroleum importation which increased the pump price from N86.50 per litre to N145 per litre.

However, Agboola said the association had no plan to increase fares, adding that the normal N100 and N150 fares charged for a journey to and from Ikeja would remain.

He said: “We cannot increase our fares because everybody knows how the country is now. We have been on ground to monitor the situation and things are still the way they were before the announcement. The fare is still the same. There is nothing we can do if the government refuses to revert to the old pump price. We can’t raise our fares over the issue.”

Agboola noted that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had valid reasons for removing the subsidy, but pleaded with the government to consider its impact on the lives of Nigerians.