As the aftermath effects of fuel subsidy removal continue to eat deep into the fabrics of the country’s economic situation, the call for palliative measures to cushion the effects has also subsisted.

The reverberating words of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu on May 29, in his inaugural address remains the driving force of the overall high cost of living in the country.

He said then: “Fuel subsidy can no longer justify its ever-increasing costs in the wake of drying resources. We shall instead, rechannel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, health care and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions”, Mr. President said.

Following the pronouncement by the President, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), announced a sharp increase in the fuel pricing, varying in different parts of the country, moving the price from the previous N184 official pump price to more than N500 and now, over N700 per litre some parts of the country.

Driving home their point, Spokesman of NNPC Limited, Garba Deen Muhammad in a statement, said the increase in pump price was an adjustment to “current market realities”, indicating petrol subsidy removal.

“As we strive to provide you with the quality service for which we are known, it is pertinent to note that prices will continue to fluctuate to reflect market dynamics”, Muhammad said.

Unfortunately, while every other thing such as salaries and remuneration of workers remained static, inflation continues to rise with high cost of living skyrocketing.

Consequently, one of the yearnings of the mass, who are mostly affected by the economic strangulation occasioned by the development, is the calls for the return of Abuja mass transit system popularly called ‘El-Rufai buses.

Abuja with a current population of about 3,840,000, a 5.15 per cent increase from 2022, needs an efficient, cheap public transport system that can carry up to 40 persons per trip at affordable rates.

The El’Rufai transport system was established in 2005 by the then Minister of FCT, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, at the wake of the ban on commercial motorcycle operations, popularly called ‘Okada’, with the intention among other things, to decongest the city of heavy traffic associated with too many people bringing out their personal cars on a daily basis.

The policy also aimed to check the activities of persons who use their private vehicles to do brisk transportation business for security reasons, as well as to sanitize the city of hundreds of rickety busses that plied major routes.

Meanwhile, it has been discovered that out of the 192 buses purchased by El-Rufai’s administration at the cost of N3.2 billion from Brazil, at the rate of N17 million each, less than 10 per cent of that amount has been recovered from the secret sale of the buses by Abuja Urban Mass Transport Co. Ltd (AUMTCO), headed by Abdulrazaq Oniyangi.

Also, in 2013, the popular mini buses were banned from the city centre to pave way for the operations of the high-capacity buses.

But over time, these mass transit buses have gradually disappeared from the city centre and a visit to the Abuja Urban Mass Transport Co. Ltd, located along Kubwa Expressway, provides an answer to that puzzle.

The outfit has become a dump site for bad and crashed vehicles.

A stroll around the premises revealed that some of the buses might have been down for over a year, as they appeared to be completely out of order and their tyres flattened.

It was discovered that lack of maintenance culture and inability to pay drivers their wages were some of the reasons for the grounding of more buses than those in operation.

Some commuters who spoke with Guardian expressed displeasure over the unavailability of government-owned vehicles, which according to them, would have ameliorated their transportation pains, in terms of costs, safety and security.

Mr Timothy Effiong, a commuter lamented that high cost of transportation is tearing his pocket. He said: “The amount of money I spend daily in transporting myself to work is taking 40 per cent of my salary.

“Government should reintroduce those big busses because their fare I believe will be cheaper.”

Nky Ozoemena, a business woman lamented that high cost of transportation is affecting her business.

She said: “Before now, it would take me N4500 to transport my goods from Wuse Market to Area 1 but now, I have to cough out N10000 to be able to convey my goods to my shop. When we had those big buses, it wasn’t like this.”

Another commuter, Hajia Zubiaru , said that there was an influx of “one chance” criminals operating in every nook and cranny of FCT, attacking unsuspecting people and robbing them of their hard earned money.

“LShe stated that such was not recorded when big buses were in operation. “Everyone was safe”, he said.

A typical case of the “one chance”menace was that of the 33-year-old Ms. Greatness Tolulope Olorunfem, who died after she was pushed out of a moving vehicle along Maitama-Kubwa highway by one chance syndicate.

When Guardian reached out to the acting Managing Director of Abuja Urban Mass Transport Co. Ltd. (AUMTCO), Mrs Ifeoma Ihenekwu, she declined interview and stopped our reporter from taking pictures of the dilapidated buses.