Subsidy Removal: Taraba Civil Servants Sell Off Cars

Car dealers in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital are having a field day as civil servants who are hit hard by the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government and the accompanying fuel price increase rush to sell their cars.

The affected civil servants attribute their actions to their inability to maintain and also fuel them due TO the hike in the pump price of petrol also known as Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

Already, most of the prominent car dealers in Jalingo are having packing space problems as the workers continue to drive in with their vehicles for sale.

The civil servants told LEADERSHIP that they were compelled to sell their cars because fuelling them had gone beyond 100 percent.

The pump price of fuel in the state ranges from N550,00 to N570,00 while the state is among numerous states that are yet to implement the N30,000 national minimum wage.

Most of the car stands visited by LEADERSHIP within Jalingo proved that 42 percent of vehicles brought in for sale in the last three weeks belonged to civil servants either working with the state or local governments.

“They (civil servants) are bringing cars en masse,” one of the car dealers said.

Aliyu Aba, a sales agent with Najib Motors, located at TSTC Junction along Jalingo-Yola Highway, Nafiu Johnbosco, an agent with Haske Motors, at Roadblock Roundabout and Nathaniel Ibro, an agent with Muri Company near Muri Hotel within Jalingo, said that they lacked space to bring cars at their stand since more customers were approaching them to pick their vehicles to sell on their stands.

Though they refused to mention names of the people that brought in cars for sell, they however confirmed that most of those who are selling their cars are civil servants particularly from the state.

“Those approaching us to sell their cars are mostly civil servants, they claim life is unbearable to them and the cost of fueling and maintaining the vehicles is not possible any longer.

“From our stand, we are not seeing buyers like before the removal of fuel subsidy, people are not ready to buy more vehicles, the cost of fuel has cushion extravagant use of cars, the market is not moving like before.”

A civil servant with state Ministry of Information, Titus Illiman, who has put up his car for sale, said he could no longer drive it to work because the price of fuel skyrocketed to N550 per litre.

“I cannot park my car and watch it decay without any income. It is better I sell it and use the money to expand my farm so that I can train my children in school. If I used N3,500 daily on fuel, that translates to N17,500 weekly and N70,000 monthly. What is the take home pay of a civil servant in this state?” he queried