Fuel hike: Anxiety in Rivers, Cross River as schools resume today
Amid fuel hike and increase in the cost of transportation, as well as hike in prices of goods and services, there is fear that most parents and guardians might not be able to meet their obligations in sending their wards back to school, as a new academic session begins today.
The sudden rise in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), known as petrol, has pushed some parents to withdraw their wards from far-distance schools, and high school fees to closer and cheaper ones, among other reasons.
In Rivers State, transportation fares have increased by about 100 per cent. Distances, which bus and taxi drivers used to charge N300, now go for N600. For instance, Rumokoro to Choba is now N600 instead of N300. The same thing applies to other routes.
Consequently, some parents and guardians have expressed fear of being unable to meet up with the transportation cost, and school fees amid the current economic woes.
In Cross River State, some parents have urged the government to float school buses to take students to and fro school at a subsidised cost.
Meanwhile, the Edo State Government has postponed school resumption indefinitely. According to a memo by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Ojo Akin-Longe, in Benin, the state capital, the current situation and the rising tension caused by the fuel price hike necessitated the decision.
Reacting to the development, the Edo All Progressives Congress (APC) Publicity Secretary, Peter Uwadiae, faulted the decision, describing it as a political gimmick less expected by the public.
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