Thirty-two-year-old Mrs. Chioma Chikere looked defeated and overwhelmed with happenings at the Chisco Transport Luxury Park at Jibowu, Lagos on Wednesday morning. Even as she looked distressed, her three children – Ngozi, Chidi and Ifunanya – were oblivious of the psychological trauma that their mother faced.
Draped in cardigans, the youngsters were rather excited and busy fiddling with the numerous toys in their possession. For them, the utmost on their fertile and imaginative minds was to go to the village and see their grandparents as well as enjoy this year’s Christmas like they did last year.
But for their mother, it was another kettle of fish. How would she conveniently foot the increased transport bill to their village in the East? Already the transport fare to that part of the country has increased from N4, 000 to N6, 500, an increment of more than 50 per cent. Besides, she still has to pay handsomely for their luggage, comprising three big travelling bags, a bag of rice, salt and another huge ‘Ghana-must-go’ haversack. This and many more challenges made the 32-year-old housewife look miserable.
Chikere wasn’t the only one looking forlorn. Mr. Ngozi Uzomba wasn’t better off. He and his wife, whom he would later identify as Grace, didn’t know how they would be able to get home to Isiala Ngwa village to attend the memorial service of Pa Uzomba, his father who died last year.
Uzomba, who felt going to another transport company would get him a cheaper rate, considering the fact that he was travelling alongside five of his children including a house help, was disappointed when he learnt that the fare was relatively the same.
Speaking to our correspondent concerning his predicament, Uzomba said he felt he decided to go home earlier thinking the companies wouldn’t have hiked the fares.
“Today is just 18th (of December). That was why I decided to take my family home so that we can avoid the risk of being caught in the fare hike. This is not the peak period. But just look at us, I didn’t plan for this and it certainly would tell on my pocket,” Uzomba lamented.
Another traveller, Josephine Wapa, who said she was going to Port Harcourt, said it was saddening that transporters would always increase the fares at any given opportunity.
“There is really no rush this time around. Would they (transporters) also say there is increase in fuel pump price? Why do they always increase their fares every festive period? It is simply not fair. One would budget a certain amount of money for the journey only for the person to get to the park and find a different situation,” she said, looking quite dejected.
Uzomba’s kind of lamentation has somewhat, become an annual ‘ritual’ for many travellers who always make it a point of duty to travel home every yuletide.
Not minding the increased fares, so many non-Lagosians who reside in the Centre of Excellence, would rather spend their last kobo to travel home than spend Christmas in ‘another man’s land’.
Mrs. Chinyere Chukwuemeka, a housewife who lives in Egbeda, Lagos, said she cannot remember any year she had spent Christmas outside her hometown, Mbaise, Imo State.
For her, this year would certainly not be an exception, especially now that she has been blessed with a child after three years of marriage.
“My father-in-law and even my father have yet to see my child. So many people in the village just heard I had a baby. Now is the proper time for them to see the baby. I must go home no matter the hike in the transport fare,” she said.
So many non-Lagosians do share Chukwuemeka’s views
Lagos-based Atim Ekepyong, a native of Cross Rivers State said she would always go to Calabar every Christmas period, citing the festivals and carnivals as her major reason for going home.
“It is usually fun in my hometown every December. I can’t remember the season I have not gone home. This is a once in a year trip. Lagos is far from Calabar and it is not as if I travel home often. Going home once a year is something anybody who is not a Lagosian should look forward to,” she said.
Owupele Timipriye, a stylist in Ikeja, Lagos also said she would always go home every Christmas because, “so many people come home that period.”
“I am a young girl, I am not married yet. Let us not deceive ourselves; most young girls my age always come home during this period because we know some young men also come home in search of wives. So many people find their spouses this period. With so many events and parties and festivals, it is usually a period when most girls and even guys look forward to in order to get a life partner. I might be lucky this time, I might see who I would eventually get married to,” she enthused.
With all the reasons some of the people gave above, it was little wonder that the parks were almost filled to its capacity with travellers.
In fact, when Saturday PUNCH visited Jibowu Park, the domain of most luxury bus companies in Lagos, the bustling and hustling in that area could not be overstated.
First, the traffic it generated from the Ikorodu Road axis down to the parks early Wednesday morning when our correspondent visited the area would be a tidbit of what to expect in coming days when more people would travel home for the Yuletide.
The touts, literarily dragging, cajoling and begging passengers to patronize them constitute another nuisance to passengers who are already complaining of the hiked fares to the East and neighbouring regions.
And from what Saturday PUNCH gathered, the following days would certainly get crazier than it is already.
A Supervisor at Chisco Transport, who identified himself as Beden, said it is traditional for fares to be increased during festive period.
Bede said the transport companies had to do that primarily because the return trip is usually empty.
“Most people go home for Christmas. It is unusual seeing people coming to Lagos or Abuja for their Christmas. Usually, it is just about one bus that we would manage to fill up with passengers coming to Lagos. Other buses come back empty.
“And in order to make up for the loss, we slightly increase the fares. But some people think we are hiking the fares to make money. That is not the reason. We too are in business, so it wouldn’t be proper for us to make a total loss this period,” he said.
Beden revealed that the reverse is always the case after the New Year celebrations when the travellers would return to their base.
“Then, the fare is hiked again. The pressure would be on the parks in the East. You would see Lagos drivers coming back with empty buses to pick passengers here. There is nothing we can do about it,” he said.
Another manager of a Cross Country transport who identified himself as Okey insisted there was no way they would not increase the fares
“Before now, a trip to Benin from Ikotun is less than N3,000. But that is not the case now, it has increased. Anybody going to Benin on Sunday (tomorrow) would even pay more. I cannot say how much we would charge that day but as the day goes by, the fare increases,” he said.
Okey said the mini buses going from Abuja down to the East, had to increase the fares as well.
“Lagos-Owerri/Aba is the same as Abuja-Owerri/Aba. The fares increased as well. It is a common thing. Mind you, virtually everything gets hiked up this period. I wonder why you would think it is only transporters that would increase their fares this period,” he said.
At the Maza Maza Park in Mile Two, Lagos, the scenario is not any different.
Saturday PUNCH noticed that more people trooped to the park than any other park in Lagos.
Confirming that, a manager who spoke under condition of anonymity said buses at the park are not “executive” as the ones in the other parks.
“I am not saying the buses are rickety, but the ones in the other parks are just normal buses. And because of that, the fares here are slightly cheaper than what is obtained in the other parks,” he said.
Copyright PUNCH.
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