December 30: Returnees Pay Less Transport Fares From Onitsha To Abuja

On Wednesday, travellers from Onitsha, Anambra state, paid between 5,500 naira (for long buses) and about 8,000 naira as transport fare for small buses and cars to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The return fares were significantly lower than what was obtainable when people travelled from Abuja to Onitsha before, during and a day after the Christmas Day celebration.

Small bus and car tickets to Onitsha by almost all transport services at the Kukwaba park in Abuja were between N13,000 to N15,000, respectively.

This could be attributed to the rush experienced by the transport services as some citizens disregarded the Nigerian Government’s advisory against non-essential travels to avoid further spread of COVID-19.

Our correspondent observed that the Kukwaba Motor Park in Kubwa, Abuja, witnessed a good number of people purchasing tickets on December 26, despite the travel advisory.

At Utako, Abuja, a traveler was told by an official of a bus service to budget between N15,000 to N20,000 as transport fare to Onitsha on 27 December.

But as for the drop in return fares, an official of one of the long bus services at Upper Iweka in Ochanja, Onitsha, told our correspondent that the prices were usually higher when coming from the FCT to Onitsha than what is obtainable when returning.

He noted, however, that he was not sure how much his bus service was taking from the FCT to Onitsha as of Wednesday.

A traveler, Chike Obi also confirmed that in the morning hours, a small bus service asked him to pay N8,000 from Onitsha to Abuja.

Meanwhile, the price difference at motor parks had formed a topical issue at the plenary session of the House of Representatives on December 21.

A lawmaker, Hon. Chinedu Martin Emeka (representing Ahiazu/Ezinitte Federal Constituency, Imo) had sponsored a motion, calling for an “urgent need to put a stop to arbitrary increase in transportation fare during festive periods, with specific reference to land transport”.

“The House notes that the recent arbitrary hike in transport fares across the country is becoming a tradition, with the most recent where the obnoxious increment is painfully hitting the land transportation, thereby, compounding the hardship situation across the board as the Yuletide draws near,” his motion had captured.

Due to the motion, the House had urged the transport ministry to follow up on the matter and penalize violators.