Motorists in the Federal Capital Territory have urged the Federal Government to look into the poor state of roads within the country, News Agency of Nigeria reports in Abuja.
The motorists in separate interviews told NAN on Monday that poor state of roads was the major reason for the increase in the cost of transportation to some parts of the country during the festivities.
According to them, there is an increase in the number of travelers and cars plying the roads during the festive period which leads to heavy traffic.
They added that when they have to spend more time on the road, more fuel is consumed which leads to the increase in transport fare.
Mokaila Abdulaziz, a driver at the Jabi Park said he has been on the highway as a driver since 1976 and currently takes passengers to Ilorin.
“The roads are too bad in this our country especially in the south. From Ogbaja to Ilorin the roads are so bad. I urge the government to try and fix the roads for us because it has become so bad.
“The roads have become so bad that it spoils our vehicles and even the passengers do not enjoy their ride,” he said.
Yusuf Ibrahim, a driver conveying passengers to Zamfara from Utako Park, said the cost of transportation was N3,000 and had not changed in spite of the season.
He added that the cost of transportation to other Northern parts of the country has also remained the same.
Isaac Abu, another driver at the Utako Park, said there is no plan of increasing cost of transportation since there was availability of fuel in the country.
Abu, however, decried low number of passengers during this period compared to the last Christmas celebration when there was high influx of passengers.
He said: “the passengers are not as many as they used to be during this period because Nigerians are crying that they do not have money to travel. I pray God intervenes for us in this country so that we can all have means to feed our families.”
Passengers travelling to Ida and Asaba, however, decried increased cost of transportation fare to their destinations.
Philip Asogwa, a passenger, said he was travelling to Ida with his wife and two children and had to pay N4,000 per person for his family as against the fare that used to be around N2,500 per person.
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