…..Demand for construction of CNG plant stations
From Justina Asishana, Minna
The move to reduce the expenses civil servants in Niger state spend on transportation was shut down by the members of the Niger State House of Assembly during plenary on Wednesday.
The member representing Chachanga Constituency, Abubakar Mohammed had proposed a motion calling on the state government to reduce the number of working days for its civil servants and schools from five working days to three working days.
This, he said, would temporarily reduce the expenses paid by the civil servants on transportation following the hike in fuel, which has triggered the cost of transportation, food and other essentials.
Mohammed said that the majority of the civil servants cannot cope because their salaries remain the same while the cost of living has tripled in recent times.
“With the recent increment of the price of PMS, life is almost becoming unbearable for people, especially those that have to commute to their workplace, and so there is a dire need for government to immediately address the plight of its citizens.
“Some states like Lagos, Edo, and Kwara, amongst others, have reduced the number of working days that civil and public servants from five to three days. Taking this measure will temporarily reduce the suffering of people following the hike in PMS, which has triggered the escalation of the cost of transportation, food and other essentials.
“If Niger state government can also adopt this policy of reducing the working days for all its civil and public servants with special modalities on how to include schools, hospitals and other essential service providers in the policy, a lot of ease will be felt by Nigerlites,” he stated.
The Legislators also called on the state government to make available the already acquired CNG buses to the civil servants to reduce their cost of transportation.
However, when the motion was debated upon during plenary, the Legislators deliberated that instead of reducing the number of working days, the government should be called upon to fast-track the construction of the CNG plant stations across the state to ensure the quick release of the CNG buses.
The Legislators argued that the buses which have been procured for a long has been left unused because there is no plant which can be used to refuel, stating that if the CNG buses are released for usage, which would be free for civil servants, it would remove the burden of paying for transportation.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, passing the resolution of the House, said, “We call on the government to make available the CNG buses to ease the cost of transportation. But you can not release the CNG buses without the plants. So the government should fast-track the construction of the plants so that the CNG buses would be made available to civil servants soonest.”
