Posted by According to a Daily Post study, residents of Abuja, the nation’s capital, have seen substantial increases in the cost of transportation over the previous two years, sometimes by as much as 100%.
The general inflation that has influenced pricing of products and services across as well as the country’s recurring fuel shortages may not be unrelated to the dramatic increase in transportation costs.
However, several daily fines issued by Area Councils in the FCT have made the situation even worse.
The FCT is divided into six local government areas: Bwari, Gwagwala, Kwali, Abaji, Kuje, and the Abuja Municipal Area Council. According to research, the majority of these area councils issue separate tickets to transporters, a practice that raises the price of transportation throughout the city.
“We need to purchase three tickets from three different local governments to travel from Zuba to Area One; in Zuba, you must purchase the Gwagwalada Area Council ticket. You must purchase the Bwari Area Council when you reach Kubwa, and the Abuja Municipal Area Council when you reach Area One. For a five-person car to operate along that route, it costs N600 per passenger, according to Mustapha Aliyu, a retired government servant who runs intra-city transportation, who spoke to Daily Post.
The National Union of Road Transport Workers and the Drivers Welfare Club of Nigeria each require transporters to pay a N200 charge, which Aliyu bemoaned as too many levies. The authorities extort around N1,000 in total from transporters.
Aliyu pointed to the new receipt and stated, “They just introduced this one by Drivers Welfare Club of Nigeria, evidently it is one of them money for the lads’ arrangement.” They “hurriedly put everything together,” they said, adding. You can tell that there is no clear purpose for the collection. We will inevitably have to pass along this expense to the commuters. The ultimate commuters pay for it, exactly like with an indirect tax, he said.
“What taxi concerns Abuja Municipality? You are imposing a parking tax on them rather than building garages for them to occupy. No, just one director came up with this. The boys (Task Force) rely on the money they collect from transporters because the government does not pay their salaries. They will shatter your glass or rupture your tire if you don’t cooperate. You run the danger of being hounded and humiliated for being a gentleman.
According to the kuryaloaded, the task team responsible for collecting the levies also targets private automobiles. Samuel Dare described his experience being taken advantage of by the touts who were enforcing the levies, saying that touts use a variety of strategies to catch unwary transporters.
“These touts occasionally pose as passengers, getting into your car, stealing your car key, and even doing damage to your car. Most of the time, you are compelled to visit their parks, where entrance fees can reach N15,000. How awful things has gotten is shown here. They are unchecked and act with impunity.
The lack of a public transit system in Abuja, as a city, is what makes the situation worrying. Most workers commute by private automobiles, also referred to as “alongs,” and they are primarily from satellite towns. They are making things harder for the people, he claimed.
The federal capital territory lacks a BRT system, in contrast to Lagos State, which has one. Long buses for public transit were purchased under the SURE-P program during the Goodluck Jonathan administration, however the most of them are currently inoperable. Years after the first phase of the multibillion Naira Abuja Light rail system was commissioned, operations have not yet begun.
In essence, the city relies on saloon automobiles, which typically have a maximum capacity of 5 passengers. the increasing traffic on some of the city’s main roadways.
Amina Ahmad, a member of the youth corps, said to this reporter that the cost of transportation has increased, making it more challenging for corpers to subsist. She clarified that the N33,000 allotment is now consumed entirely by transportation.
“Renting in the city center is practically forbidden. Only in locations like Kuje and Gwagwalada can you get suitable lodging. Two years ago, the cost to get from Gwagwalada to Berger Bus-Stop was N250; today, a cab will cost you between N50 and N100. The same Gwagwalada to town, however, now costs N500 hundred. You will spend more than N1,500 on transportation each day, she predicted.
She further mentioned that the majority of Places of Primary Assignment do not provide housing or pay the transportation stipend specified in the NYSC posting letter.
“Of course, moving to Lugbe would be an option, but if you look at housing rent even in Lugbe, it is currently prohibited. “Landlords discriminate against Corpers (NYSC Corps) and charge as much as N300,000 for a one-bedroom flat,” she claimed.
The communities in the city center of Abuja offer an alternative for some people to avoid the expensive transportation costs, but the residents of these villages live in continual fear of being demolished by the government.
The arrival of the bulldozers a few weeks ago, according to Jane, a resident of Kpaduma in the Asokoro expansion, “was like a dreadful dream.”
She continued by saying that more than 20 homes in her neighborhood had been razed by the Federal Capital Development Authority, leaving inhabitants stranded.
A few of us just renewed our leases. I went to Lugbe in my desperation to attempt to find an apartment, but it was nearly impossible. I visited Karu and Nyanya but got nothing. My properties were outside, so it was clear I was in a difficult situation. In Kurudu, I’ve finally found one,” she added.
She will have to rely on Abuja’s subpar transit system and the congested Mararaba-Nyanya axis, like other workers in the city, to travel to work every day.
Previously, the minimum fee from most bus stations in Kubwa cost between N150 and N200 each passenger, according to Mudairu Abubakar, a local. Currently, the minimum fare is N300 per passenger.
“Salaries are not rising, but transportation costs are rising at a significant rate,” he declared.