Abuja, Cross River, Adamawa hit by high transport fare

The National Bureau of Statistics, (NBS), has said that residents in Abuja, Cross River, and Adamawa states paid the highest bus fares within city in April.

NBS, in a new report released on Tuesday, revealed that the residents paid nothing less than N255.00, N210.54 and N200.00 respectively moving within the cities.

Considering the current inflation rate, the data revealed that the fares have risen significantly when compared year on year, and month on month.
This means that commuters spent more of their income of movement from one place to another, which also had a ripple effect on the prices of goods and services, thereby further impoverishing Nigerians.

“Average fare paid by commuters for bus journey within the city increased by 5.43 per cent month-on-month and by 59.29 per cent year-on-year to N134.66 in April 2017 from N127.72 in March 2017,” NBS said:

According to the agency, states with the lowest bus journey fare within the city in the month under review were Enugu (N75.88), Yobe (N62.50), and  Borno (N60.00). But the average fare paid by commuters for bus journey intercity increased by 8.22 per cent month-on-month, and 34.21 per cent year on-year to N1,587.04 in April, up from N1,466.46 a month earlier.

It also said the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes single journey increased by 0.70 per cent month-on-month and by 29.89 per cent year-on-year to N30,803.03 in April 2017 from N30,587.40 in March 2017.

States with highest air fare in April 2017 were Jigawa (N40,000.11), Edo (N40,000.00), and  Abuja (N36,000), while states with lowest air fare in April 2017 were Katsina (N22,500.00), Kogi (N22,500.65) and Plateau (N25,000).

According to the report, average fare paid by commuters for journey by motorcycle per drop went up by 3.61 per cent month-on-month and 14.39 per cent year-on-year to N100.82 in April from N97.31 in March.

Similarly, states with highest journey fare by motorcycle per drop in April were Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom, which paid N186.00, N184.55 and N174.29 respectively.

On the other hand, states with lowest journey fare by motorcycle per drop during the period included Niger, Ekiti, and Zamfara, standing at N58.57, N57.67 and N53.00 respectively.

It however said that average fare paid by passengers for water way passenger transport also rose by 2.90 per cent month-on-month and 15.57 per cent year-on-year to N597.56 in April 2017 from N580.70 in March 2017.