Reps move to curtail hike in transport fares

The House of Representatives has called on the authorities to put in place measures aimed at halting the arbitrary hike in transport fares across the country.

Adopting a motion sponsored by Chinedu Martins under matters of urgent national importance at the plenary presided over by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, the House urged the Ministry of Transport to monitor activities of transporters during the Yuletide with a view to curtailing obnoxious hike in fares.

The lawmakers resolved that those who indulge in unnecessary fare hike should be sanctioned to serve as deterrence to others.
The House also mandated the Committee on Transport to interface with relevant agencies in ensuring that such seasonal arbitrariness comes to an end.

Martins (Imo: PDP), while moving the motion, remarked that it was unfortunate that the “obnoxious increment in transport fare is becoming a tradition in the country whenever the Yuletide draws nearer.”

“Such obnoxiously arbitrary increase, sometimes had nothing to do with the economic indices or the reality on ground, but a by-product of the greedy discretion of the park managers who decide the prices depending on turnout of the day which is nothing short of gross insensitivity, occasioning economic sabotage.

“The trend is not only becoming too dangerously to ignore, but a total set back to the country’s recuperating economy, especially when factors like the demons of unusual fuel scarcity that formally triggers hike in fares had been taken care of by the government through the recent deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry,” he said.