Fuel Price Surge Triggers Transportation Crisis In Port Harcourt As Commuters Express Frustration Over Increased Fare Rates 

Fuel Price Surge Triggers Transportation Crisis In Port Harcourt As Commuters Express Frustration Over Increased Fare Rates

Commuters in Port Harcourt and its environs are lamenting the hike in transportation fares on major routes caused by the increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as fuel.

Despite the absence of fuel scarcity in the state, as in other parts of the country, the cost of the product has risen in the state, as it is being sold between N890 – N900 and N1000 in the black market.

This has led to yet another rise in transport fares in most parts of the state, with commuters and residents expressing their displeasure and calling on the government to do something to reverse the trend during an interview with our correspondent on Wednesday.

A respondent who pleaded anonymity 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.”

Also speaking on the effect of the hike in transport fare, one Mrs. Felicia lamented the dwindling state of the economy as a whole and its impact on her beauty salon along Location Junction, Port Harcourt.

“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 lamented.

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On their part, the commercial drivers maintained that they have no other option than to increase transportation fares as the hike in fuel price is also affecting their business.

Mr. ThankGod, who plies the Location to Rumuola route, 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.”

Continuing, he called on the government to intervene, saying, “But we are just asking the government if there’s any way they can reduce the fuel price so that things can be normal for the citizens.

“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 asked to stay anonymous confirmed that the fare from Location to Rumuola has increased from 100 naira to 300 naira, as he expressed strong displeasure with the turnout of things since the #EndBadGovernance protest earlier in the month.

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 the protest, nothing. The government doesn’t want to do anything. I don’t know whether they’re waiting for the youths to carry guns. If the government wants the youths to carry guns, we will carry guns, and we will face them. I am not happy.”