In a new report titled, “Transport Fare Watch (April 2022),” the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that the average airfare paid by passengers on specified routes for a single journey has increased by 52 per cent in the past 12 months.
The report also showed that the airfares recorded a 19 per cent increase on a month-on-month basis while on year-on-year basis, the fares rose by 52.44 per cent from N36,409.46 in April 2021.
The hike in airfares, is due to the recent challenges faced by local airlines, which inlde access to Forex and rise in cost of JetA1 fuel used to operate aircrafts.
On state profile analysis, NBS said Taraba recorded the highest air transport charges (for specified routes single journey) in April 2022 with N65,000.00, followed by Kogi with N64,258.91, while Kano recorded the least with N50,000.00.
Analysis by zone also showed that the North-Central recorded the highest airfare in April, 2022 with N57,552.54, followed by the North-East with N56,800.16, while the South-East had the least with N53,402.58.
The report further showed that average fare paid by commuters for bus journey intercity per drop rose by 8.75 per cent from N3,270.94 in March 2022 to N3,557.15 in April 2022. However, it rose by 45.38 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N2,446.86 in April 2021.
The average fare paid by commuters for bus journey within the city per drop, increased by 6.39% on a month-on-month basis from N536.35 in March 2022 to N570.64 in April 2022. On a year-on-year basis, this rose by 47.80 per cent from N386.10 in April 2021.
In another category, the average fare paid by commuters for journey by motorcycle per drop increased by 8.03% on a month-on-month basis from N395.12 in March 2022 to N426.84 in April 2022. On a year-on-year basis, the fare rose by 54.48% from N276.30 in April 2021.
The average fare paid for water transport (waterway passenger transportation) increased by 5.67% on a month-on-month basis from N900.84 in March 2022 to N951.93 in April 2022. On a year-on-year basis, this rose by 16.06% from N820.23 in April 2021.
Water transport fare was highest in Delta with N3,128.57, followed by Rivers with N3,040.00, while the least was in Borno with N315.39.
For bus journey within the city (per drop constant route), the NBS report showed that Zamfara recorded the highest with N822.00, followed by Taraba with N733.33, while Anambra recorded the least with N432.14. Yobe had the highest motorcycle transport fare under the reference period with N661.83, followed by Lagos with N656.25, while Ogun recorded the least with N211.76.
