Eid-el-Kabir: Passengers decry hike in transport fares in Ibadan

Some passengers travelling from Ibadan to other parts of the country to celebrate Eid-el-Kabir with their loved ones have decried hike in transport fares at the various motor parks.

Our Correspondent who monitored situation at some major motor parks in the metropolis on Thursday, reports that transport fares from Ibadan to other states increased by between 50 per cent and 75 per cent.

The motor parks visited included: Challenge, Iwo-Road, and Ojoo, all within Ibadan metropolis.

A passenger at Iwo Road motor park, Mr Jimoh Amole, said that he paid N7,000 as transport fare from Ibadan to Ado-Ekiti, as against the N5,000 he used to pay before the festive period.

Amole called on government to roll out a subsidised yuletide transportation programme to save citizens from undue exploitations by commercial drivers.

Also, Mrs Mulikat Abegunde, a passenger at Iwo Road motor park, said that she paid N5,500 as fare from Ibadan to Sango-Ota in Ogun, instead of the normal N3,500.

Another passenger travelling to Ogbomoso, Miss Rukayat Adeleke, said that she paid 5,000 instead of the N2,500 she used to pay for the journey.

Also speaking, Mr Rafiu Olonade, a passenger at Challenge motor park, said the sum of N4,500 was collected from him for a journey to Lagos.

Olonade said that he used to pay N3000 by commercial bus for the same journey before the Eid-el-Kabir festivities.

He attributed the hike to greed on the part of the drivers, noting that there was no fuel price hike in recent times.

A commercial driver, Azeez Kolawole, said that most passengers wrongly based their judgement concerning transport fare on fuel price.

He noted that cost of maintenance of the vehicle and recent price of vehicle spare parts should also be considered before blaming the drivers on the hike in transport fare.

“Government is warning us against the use of smuggled fairly used tyres, but many drivers are finding it difficult to buy brand new tyres and quality spare parts due to high cost,”he said.

Kolawole urged government to encourage local manufacturing of vehicles spare parts so as to reduce cost of vehicles maintenance in Nigeria to the barest.

Our correspondent reports while commercial bus drivers increased their fares by between 50 per cent and 75 per cent, taxi drivers allegedly increased their fares by 100 per cent.

Some of the passengers at the parks said that they opted to travel by bus due to the 100 per cent increase in taxi fare.

However, a taxi driver at the Challenge terminal, Mr Nurudeen Ajikore, who plies Ibadan-Lagos interstate route, said that before the celebration the fare by car to Lagos was N5,100, but it was increased to N7000.

Another driver on the Ibadan-Abeokuta route, said that the fare before now was N6,000, but currently N7,500.

The respondents attributed the hike to bad roads, hike in cost of spare parts and extortion by some security personnel on the highway.

While commending government at all levels for the attention being given to some roads, they pleaded with government to intensify efforts to ensure that all Nigerian roads become motorable