Fuel prices increased, traffic jams decreased

Rising fuel prices in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, put an end to the traffic chaos.

Fuel costs have tripled since June, leading to higher transport costs, the BBC reported. At the same time, many employees have gone back to working from home, as they did during the epidemic, due to rising transportation costs.

With the decline in the demand for transportation due to rising costs, traffic jams that last for miles have been greatly reduced. Many private vehicles were removed from traffic in the city. Some of the yellow buses, a symbol of the city’s traffic chaos, began to wait in the parking lots.

THE GHOST OF LAGOS HAS RETURNED TO THE CITY

The latest data from the National Statistics Office showed that in the second quarter of 2023, the contribution of road transport to the economy decreased by around 47 percent annually.

Many small businesses have closed in Lagos due to the cost of transportation, and some low-income people living in the suburbs and commuting to business centers on Lagos Island have stopped going to work.

A cleaning worker said: “I was spending 600 naira a day on transport, this amount increased to 1,000 naira. At the end of the month, I was spending all my salary on transportation,” he said, adding that he had to quit his job.

THE ECONOMY IS WORSE

On the other hand, the economy of Lagos continues to deteriorate. President Bola Tinubu, on his first day at the end of May, announced his decision to abruptly cut off the supply of cheap fuel.

Tinubu said oil-rich Nigeria can no longer afford billions of dollars in oil subsidies.

Tinubu also ended the currency restrictions imposed by the previous government. This caused the weakening of the local currency. The situation caused by rising fuel costs and a weak currency has brought the economy to a standstill.