Abuja residents bewail high cost of transport fare, say Light Rail transit system not working.
Locals of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have lamented over increasing cost of transportation stemming from the government’s supposedly commissiond “dysfunctional Light Rail transit”.
Many of them, who spoke with reporters of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja, said the unbearable increase in transport ticket price has led to increase in cost of commodities and other basic services within the area .
The residents said their finances, especially among the low-fixed-income earners living in Abuja, could no longer cover for, at least , the bare essentials of life (Water, food and shelter).
Electricity, health and water bills were among the problem the locals decried over this new development.
Since the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal government on May 29, 2023, under the APC-led government of President Bola Tinubu transport cost has soared greatly arising from increased Petroleum prices across the country.
According to one of the residents, high cost of Petroleum pump prices has led to a “fewer numbers of commercial vehicles in Abuja”.
They called on the Nigerian Federal Government’s intervention with a provision for subsidized public buses, arguing that this would go a long way in reducing “the effect of the
high transport cost” in the zone.
a National Youth Service corps’ member, ms Aisha Bajini, said she has been having a hard time traveling to her place of primary assignment because of the high tranport ticket price.
“It has not been easy for me to go to Work since we started experiencing high transport fares,”Bajini said.
“To worsen the situation, anytime I come out, I spend most of my time on the road looking for vehicles, because
before the vehicle gets to where I am it is already filled with passenger.
Bajini would trekk most of the time due high cost of transport fare, covering a long distance.
“This has now made me trekking halfway from home to reduce the transport fare, and end up being exhausted by the time I get to my place of work,” she added.
Another resident who shared her experience is Princess Uye, an employee of a private firm.
Uye said, given the hiked cost of transportation, she would ‘pay through the nose’ for her to get to her office each day,
According to her, I used to pay N300 to N400 from Nyanya to Julius Berger Junction but now am paying N700 in a day. Where are we going in this
country?
“If it is not that it is boring to stay at home, I would have stopped going to work because l am not gaining anything at the end of the month,” she said.
“I am just making money to spend on transport and not for anything else that can help me move forward in life.”
Umar, a young trader, also expressed disappointment at the new development and the high cost of transport fare.
The trader said “if the little we have cannot sustain us” as result of daily increasing cost of commodities and other basic things ” the idea of government’s claims of fighting “poverty in the country” is meaningless.
“Last Tuesday, I had to trek home after I came down at my bus stop which is far away from my house because the money I had on me was spent on just transport and I had nothing left,” Umar lamented.
“Is this how we are going to survive in Nigeria, is this how we are going to fight poverty in the country if the little we have cannot sustain us?”
What we reported recently on the Abuja Light Rail transit system, and a government implied subsidized transport fare.
Previously, as was reported by EPICSTORIAN NEWS, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, promised to give Abuja residents free transportation for over a specified number of months.
