After fighting for Nigeria, soldier earning N50,000 laments inability to visit family over skyrocketing transport fare
A soldier who spent the last year receiving training in Maiduguri, Borno State, has bewailed the high cost of transportation to his community, noting that it surpassed his monthly salary.
In a video shared by X user, Somto Okonkwo, the soldier was seen lamenting in Pidgin that his N50,000 monthly income could not cover his bus fare to his hometown where he planned to spend his official break.
The soldier said he was shocked to learn that the fare to travel to his hometown was N35,000 when he got to the park.
According to him, another N35,000 would bring him back to his base, totalling N70,000.
He said, “As I comot for bush now, na im I reach park. They tell me say from here to my town, na N35,000,” the Nigerian Army trainee said in the video shared on Wednesday morning.
“Naim me I come calculate am, going and coming back that’s N70,000. And na N50,000, naim be my salary wey dem pay me for this month. I no get option again o, I dey go back to bush.”
The soldier said he was left with no option than to spend the break at the military training base.
Since President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of fuel subsidy in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, the cost of interstate and intrastate transportation has increased by over 100 per cent.
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