Nigeria Transport Fares Soared in February, NBS Says
By Bashir Olanrewaju
Transport fares in Nigeria soared across board in February from a year earlier, a key sign of current inflationary trends, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The highest increase recorded was in motorcycle taxis, with fares jumping 102.5 percent from the same period last year. The cost of the average bus journey within a city followed closely with its 83 percent increase while the cost of intercity bus journies rose 43 percent. Airfares brought the rear with a 19 percent increase from Fedbruary last year.
Month-on-month all the measures rose with the exception of air fares that retreated 0.1 percent. Bus journies within cities jumped 4.4 percent, followed by motorcycle transport with 1.8 percent and intercity bus fares with 1.6 percent.
Nigeria’s annual inflation jumped to 18.17 percent in March, the highest in more than three years as inflationary pressures remained unrelenting.
Though the central bank set a target of keeping inflation between 6-9 percent, it has missed this mark now for more than five years.