NEC Targets Cheaper Fares, Food Prices in 90-Day Plan to Ease Nigerians’ Hardship

NEC Targets Cheaper Fares, Food Prices in 90-Day Plan to Ease Nigerians’ Hardship

 

Nigerians struggling to cope with soaring food prices and transport fares may be in line for some relief as the National Economic Council has approved a 90-day economic action plan aimed at reducing the cost of living and making essential services more affordable.

 

At the heart of the initiative is a push to ensure that government economic reforms translate into tangible benefits for ordinary citizens, particularly commuters who spend a significant portion of their daily earnings travelling to work, trading centres and other places of livelihood.

 

The council has specifically directed federal and state governments to ensure that savings from the use of compressed natural gas-powered and electric vehicles are reflected in lower transport fares, rather than remaining with fleet owners and transport operators.

 

The plan was proposed by the Federal Ministry of Finance and endorsed on Thursday at the 161st meeting of the NEC, chaired virtually by Vice-President Kashim Shettima.

 

According to a statement by Stanley Nkwocha, the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Communications, the 90-day programme has five priority areas: food affordability, tax harmonisation, completion of high-impact projects, removal of investment bottlenecks and regulated household support.

 

The council’s intervention comes amid persistent pressure on household budgets, with the rising cost of transportation and food leaving many Nigerians with less money to meet other essential needs.

 

For workers, traders, artisans and small business owners, cheaper transportation could mean retaining more of their daily earnings, while improved food affordability could ease the pressure on already stretched household incomes.

 

Speaking at the meeting, Shettima said the effectiveness of government policies should be judged by their impact on the daily lives of citizens, including access to affordable transportation, healthcare, employment and financial security.

 

“The first dividend of prosperity should be the confidence to plan a life. Our task is to make such confidence less dependent on fortune,” he said.

 

The Vice-President stressed that the National Compressed Natural Gas Bus Initiative should not be judged merely by the number of buses deployed but by how much it reduces the financial burden on commuters.

 

“The cost of reaching a livelihood should never consume the livelihood itself,” he said.

 

The council consequently resolved to establish a joint financing framework between the Federal Government and state governments to accelerate the deployment of CNG-powered and electric vehicles.

 

It also directed relevant authorities to engage transport unions and operators to ensure that the operational savings associated with the vehicles translate into lower fares for passengers.

 

The directive seeks to address a key concern surrounding the transition to alternative-energy transportation: whether the savings from cheaper fuel and more efficient operations will benefit commuters or simply improve operators’ profit margins.

 

Beyond transportation, the 90-day plan will focus on measures to improve food affordability, streamline taxation, remove barriers to investment and fast-track projects expected to deliver significant economic benefits.

 

The NEC also approved the establishment of a national dashboard to monitor projects across the country, with particular emphasis on transparency, accountability and tracking the utilisation of funds generated from the removal of petrol subsidies.

 

The monitoring mechanism is expected to strengthen oversight of public spending and improve the tracking of projects intended to cushion the effects of economic reforms.

 

Shettima called for closer cooperation between the Federal Government and state governments, warning that their separate responsibilities must not become excuses for failing to provide essential services.

 

However, the ultimate test of the 90-day plan will be whether Nigerians begin to experience measurable improvements in the cost of transportation, food and other necessities within the stipulated period.

 

For a worker who must spend a substantial part of a day’s wages getting to work, or a family struggling to put affordable meals on the table, the success of the initiative will not be determined by government announcements or the number of alternative-fuel buses introduced.

 

It will be measured by the money left in their pockets at the end of the day.