Commuters in Port Harcourt and its environs have lamented the increase in transport fares on major routes due to the hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as fuel.
However, the state does not witness scarcity of fuel like other parts of the state. Fuel is being sold in the filling stations between N890 – N950 while the black market goes N1,000, resulting in a steep rise in prices in the state.
This has led to further increases in transport fares in many parts of the state, with commuters and residents expressing their dissatisfaction in interviews with our correspondent on Wednesday, calling on the government to take steps to reverse the trend.
A respondent who preferred to remain anonymous said, “It’s frustrating. Yesterday, I paid 200 naira from Agip to Waterlines, only to come back in the evening, and I’m hearing that there’s a 50% hike in the fare.
“At this rate, even the increase in the minimum wage will amount to nothing, because with the increase in cost of transportation. There’ll also be an increase in the cost of goods and services.”
A commuter, Mrs. Felicia also spoke about the impact of the increase in transport costs, lamenting the overall worsening economic situation and the impact on her hair salon located at Port Harcourt Junction.
“A lot of things are affecting us, the economy, the transportation, and there are no more customers. They are not coming because they said there’s no money for them to do any hair. Even the attachment is quite expensive. It’s 5,000 naira.
“Like transport, it’s really, you can see, before it was 100 naira to this place but now it’s 200 naira. It’s really affecting me. Not that I even have a customer,” she complains.
Meanwhile, professional drivers maintained that they had no choice but to increase transport fares as the rise in fuel prices had also affected their operations.
Mr. ThankGod, who drives on the route from the area to Rumuola, said, “the fuel increment is affecting the drivers, because of that we increased the transportation fare but people, the passengers are still complaining.
“I am a family man. Why is it affecting us? Sometimes, we go out for work, and at the end of the day, we cannot get anything to feed our family because of the fuel. At the end of the day, we buy more than what we’re supposed to buy. You find out the whole of your work; fuel takes half of it. So that’s the area that’s affecting us commercial drivers
He called for the government to intervene, saying, “But we are just asking the government if there is any way to reduce the fuel price so that everything goes back to normal for our people.
“Please, we are only begging the government to look into the fuel price and make it easier for the poor masses so that we can be able to purchase and the transportation can be easy for the masses to go and come back to their journey.”
Another driver, who preferred to remain anonymous, expressed great dissatisfaction with developments since the #EndBadGovernance protest earlier this month, admitting that the fare from his spot to Rumuola has been increased from 100 naira to 300 naira.
He said, “You see, the country is very, very bad, and there’s nothing I know that we can do except almighty. What I mean is that the fuel price is bad; there’s no solution to it.
“After protest, nothing. The government don’t want to do anything. I don’t know whether they’re waiting for the youths to carry gun. If the government wants the youths to carry gun, we will carry gun and we will face them. I am not happy.”
