Abstract:

The study has empirically analyzed the effect of fuel subsidy removal on academic staff productivity in Colleges of Education in Benue State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted for the study. The study population comprises all academic staff of the state owned Colleges of Education in Benue State. A sample of 223 respondents were used for the study using multistage sampling techniques. Questionnaire alongside interview were used for data collection. Data was analyzed using charts, frequencies, percentages and simple regression analysis. The results of the study indicated that high cost of living, transportation cost and been unable to fuel vehicles were factors affecting productivity of the academic staff. More so, the study found that fuel subsidy removal has significant relationship with the extent of cost of living of academic staff in Colleges of Education in Benue State. Finally, the study established that fuel subsidy removal has significant relationship with the level of productivity of academic staff in Colleges of Education in Benue State. Therefore, the study concluded that fuel subsidy removal has posed a great challenge to the academic staff concerning their effectiveness in performing their core responsibilities in Colleges of Education in Benue State. The study recommended that state government through the Ministry of Education should intervene in providing cash transfer scheme, transport vouchers and mass transit schemes among others to the academic staff in order to reduce their suffering due to the elimination of fuel subsidy.