By Biodun Busari

Nigeria’s busiest commercial city, Lagos is not among the states with the highest transport fares according to the latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published recently.

According to the report titled ‘Transport Fare Watch for June 2022’, fares of different modes of transport in the country were analysed and published, but Lagos did not top in any of the highest fares, despite the significance of transport to the nation’s commercial hub.

The annual average transport fare for intracity bus journeys across the federation increased by 42.02% from N410.32 last year June now N582.61 in June 2022. Zamfara recorded the highest with N822.50 in this category followed by Taraba with N750.50 and Bauchi came third with N700.00.

Abuja, Adamawa and Kogi had the highest transport fares for intercity bus journeys with N5540.30, N5200.50 and N4754.00 respectively, as the annual average transport of this category rose by 45.21%. The average in June 2021 was N2,522.44 while it was N3662.87 in June 2022.

Motorcycles’ transport fares in the country have gone by 43.20% moving from an average charge of N291.18 in June 2021 to N416.97 in June 2022. Kwara has the highest with N690.76, while Lagos comes second with N662.50 and Yobe is third with N632.50.

Lagos is not in the top three states charging the highest water transport fares despite being a riverine city. The oil-rich South-South region states of Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa ranked first, second and third in this category with N3150.50, N2985.80 and N2555.00 respectively. The annual increase is 12.80% with N836.23 last year June and N943.26 in June this year.

The flight tickets with the country have also soared from an average of N36,662.57 in June last year to N56,082.64 in June this year, recording a 52.97% increase in air transport fares for passengers. Taraba recorded the highest with N67500.00, while three states – Kogi, Kebbi and Yobe tied second with N65000.00 and Enugu came third with N60210.00.

However, speaking on the data based on geo-political zone, NBS said, “The distribution of transport fare categories by zones shows that in the intercity bus journey, the South-West had the highest fare with N3,901.73 followed by North-east with N3,761.80, while the South-East recorded the least with N3,479.04.”

“In June 2022, transport fares for bus journeys within the city recorded the highest in the northeast with N634.33 followed by North-west with N608.49 while the South-West recorded the least with N544.53.

“The Northeast recorded the highest fare of air transport in June 2022 with N57,925.03 followed by the North-central with N56,221.57, while the South-south had the least with N 54,333.33.

“Also, commuters on a motorcycle (Okada) paid the highest fare in the North-Central with N471.12 followed by the South-West with N470.86, while the North-West recorded the least with N310.66.

“South-South zone had the highest charges paid on water transport with N2194.72 followed by South-West with N818.54, while North-East had the least fare with N595.12,” NBS added.