Travelers in Benue state have expressed much happiness that transport fares within and outside the state have not increased but have remained static even as it is few days to Chrismas celebration.
Our correspondent who visited several motor parks on Friday in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, reports that all the parks in the city are witnessing large number of happy passengers.
The Next Edition reports that the fares from Makurdi to Abuja, Jos and Enugu has remaimed N2,000 for bus and N2,500 for what they call VIP or AC cars.
The transport fare to Owerri, Aba and Onitsha has also remained N3,000, while Calabar and Ibadan are N4000 and N4,500 respectively.
The transport fare to PortHacourt is N3500, Kano and Yenegoa, N4000 while Lagos is between N5,000 and N6,000 at two different parks.
However, our investigation revealed that there is a slight increase in intra state transportation fares. While from Makurdi to Gboko, Otukpo and Katsina Ala towns have remained N500, N700 and N1,200 reapectively, Zaki-Biam in Ukum LGA has increased from N1,300 to N1,500 among other places.
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Speaking on the slight increase in the intra state fares, an Operations manager in one of the motor parks, Mr. Dooyum Sule explained that they increased N200 for some local routes because their vehicles come back empty to the headquaters due to lack of perssengers in those location.
On the other hands, a union worker at one of the parks, Mr. Andrew Hembe and a driver, Bem Jonathan explained that the transport fares have not increased until the time of filing this report because the price of fuel has remained the same.
“Passengers, in the past, use to pay more money different from the normal fare during Chrismas season but this time, fuel price is still normal. So we have not increased price.”
Meanwhile passengers travelling for the festivities have expressed happiness that the fares have not increased.
Most of the passengers who spoke to our correspondent recalled that drivers and transport owners were used to exploiting passengers to enrich their pocket.
They also commended government for ensuring availability of fuel all round the country.
“In the past, even when there is no increase in the cost of fuel, transporters have capitalised on festive seasons to increase transport fares, we thank God it is different this time,” a Corps member, David Agba said.
