THE Lagos state government has said it will scrap the 50 per cent discount on transport services and bring back the old rate on Sunday.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority on Saturday, November 4, 2023.
The statement informed commuters that the 50 per cent rebate in transport fare in the regulated transport system in Lagos ends on Sunday and starting from Monday, November 6, 2023, transport fare will return to the former rate.
The state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had in August announced a 50 per cent reduction in prices of public transport services including the Bus Rapid Transport, Standard routes, First and Last Mile, Rail and Ferry to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy earlier removed by President Bola Tinubu.
On February 8, Sanwo-Olu had made a similar move and announced a 50 percent reduction in the prices of all state-owned transport services.
The governor had said the move is part of the palliatives being rolled out by the state government to cushion the effects of the petrol subsidy removal and the attendant hike in the prices of the commodity.
However, Sanwo-Olu has put an end to the discount programme. In October, the state government said the rebate package saved commuters 1.9 billion naira in eight weeks on transport costs.
Recall that some state governors have introduced various initiatives to ease mobility amid hardship brought by subsidy removal. The ICIR reported that Yobe state governor, Mai Bala Buni promised to provide shuttle buses at affordable cost for students. The Borno state governor, Babagana Zulum also unveiled a new fleet of 70 buses for metro transport and to ease the movement of civil servants to their various places of work.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.