The Federal Government on Wednesday announced 50 per cent reduction in transportation costs along 22 interstate routes during the Yuletide season.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr Dele Alake, who chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Presidential Intervention, disclosed this when he briefed State House correspondents at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Also, the spokesperson for the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Segun Falade, said the union would commence the implementation of the fare subsidy on Thursday (today).
Giving further explanation, Alake said the 50 per cent reduction in the fares was arrived at in conjunction with companies operating luxury buses.
He added that President Bola Tinubu had directed that commuters on all train services would get free rides from Thursday (today) to January 4, 2024.
But the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress faulted the initiative, describing the Federal Government as confused.
The Nigeria Union of Teachers, however, lauded the package as a welcome development.
Alake, flanked by his counterparts in the Ministry of Transportation, Saidu Alkali, and the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, while briefing the State House correspondent, explained that the President okayed the directives in the spirit of the season given the economic realities facing Nigerians.
Inter-state transportation
He said, “President Tinubu wants Nigerians to travel within Nigeria to wherever they want to meet their loved ones without the extra burden of paying exorbitantly for inter-state public transportation.
“It is in this wise that the Federal Government is announcing, beginning tomorrow (today), a special discounted holiday season fare on road transport and zero-fare by rail across Nigeria.
“This means that from tomorrow (today), Nigerians willing to travel can board public transportation via luxury buses at a 50 per cent discount on current cost and all our train services on the routes the trains currently serve at zero cost to and fro on their travels this holiday season.
