AN EVALUATION OF THE IMPLICATIONS OF FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL CRISIS IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT: This study evaluated the implications of fuel subsidy removal crisis in Nigeria. The study specifically examined the implication  of fuel subsidy removal on unemployment in Nigeria, assessed the impact of fuel subsidy removal on  inflation and food security and examined the impact of the fuel subsidy removal crisis on income level and standard of living in Nigeria. The survey design was adopted and the simple random sampling techniques were employed in this study. The population size comprise of people in Ikotun local government, Lagos state, Nigeria. In determining the sample size, the researcher conveniently selected 261 respondents and 259 were validated. Self-constructed and validated questionnaire was used for data collection. The collected and validated questionnaires were analyzed using frequency tables and mean scores. The result of the findings reveals that the implication of fuel subsidy removal on unemployment in Nigeria include loss of jobs in the informal sector, decrease economic growth in the short term and make firms less competitive. Therefore, the study recommended that government should create an enabling environment to engender private investor’s for the purpose of improving the local refining capacity to meet the ever increasing local demand of petroleum products and indeed for exportation purpose.