Effects of fuel subsidy removal on poverty status of women in rural households of Abia State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This study analyzed the effect of fuel subsidy on the poverty status of women in rural households of Abia State Nigeria. The objectives includes:to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the women, examine the income and expenditure level of the women before and after fuel subsidy removal, determine the poverty status of the women in the study area, analyze the effect of fuel subsidy removal on the poverty status of women in the study area. A total of one hundred and twenty (120) women were randomly selected and administered with structured questionnaires. Descriptive, FGT model and Logit regression were used to analyze the data collected. The result shows that 90% of the respondents were married with mean age of 43 years. (74.2%) had formal education (70%) of them were petty traders. More than half of them (56.7%) where not a member to any cooperative society. With regards to the income and expenditure levels of rural women before and after the removal of fuel subsidies. The minimum and maximum income of rural women before subsidy removal were ₦7000 and ₦100,000 respectively, with an average income of ₦62,000. After the subsidy removal, the minimum and maximum income were ₦8000 and ₦N120,000 respectively. 22.5% of rural women were considered poor before subsidy removal However, after the subsidy removal, this figure increased to 25.0%. the result of logit regression showed that fuel price, cost of electricity, cost of transportation, cost of cooking, were significant factors influencing the poverty status of women in rural households in Abia state. Finally, the major constraints were, high cost of transportation, high cost of food stuff, less means of livelihood and increase in child labour. The study recommends a review on the fuel subsidy removal to give the women access to better life.