How air, land, water transport fares skyrocketed in Feb — NBS

In February 2021, air, land and water transportation passengers had to pay higher to their destinations, more than they did in January, according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

According to a February Transport Watch report released on Wednesday, average airfares paid by passengers increased by 17.97 per cent – N36,458.11 in February, from N36,463.65 in January.

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States with the highest airfare were Delta/Lagos (N38,600), Anambra/Bayelsa (N38,500), and Bauchi (N38,400).

The lowest airfares were for Akwa-Ibom (N32,500), Sokoto (N33,600) and Gombe (N35,000).

An average fare paid by commuters for bus journeys within the city increased by 2.60% monthly, and by 78.08% yearly to N361.31 in February 2021, from N352.15 in January 2021.

The highest fares were recorded in Zamfara (N620.15), Bauchi (N530.10) and Ekiti (N475.25) and the lowest were in Oyo (N190.45), Abia (N208.55) and Borno (N250.72).

An average fare paid by commuters for bus intercity increased by 1.13% to N2,372.87 from N2,346.41 recorded in January 2021.

States with the highest on this were Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) (N4,500.88), Sokoto (N3,350.60) and Lagos (N3,340.60), while Bayelsa (N1,650.32), Bauchi (N1,690.80) and Enugu (N1,700) had the lowest.

The NBS also reported that the average fare paid by commuters for journeys by motorcycle per drop increased to N266.74 from N259.33 in January.

States with the highest motorcycle fare were Taraba (N436.20), Yobe (N425.02) and Kogi (N400.12), while those with the lowest were Adamawa (N86.47), Katsina (N140.12) and Kebbi (N155.90).

Waterway passenger transport also rose by 39.63% within 12 months and by 1% in February to N794.02 from N786.19 in January 2021.

Passengers in Rivers (N2,299.35), Delta (N2,280.33) and Bayelsa (N2,258.49) paid the highest, while others in Borno (N240.55), Gombe (N297.23) and Abuja (N340.22) paid the lowest fares.