By Chinelo Obogo

Passengers who use motorcycles (popularly called Okada in local parlance) and air planes for transportation have seen the highest increase in air fare in one year compared to other modes of movement.

According the Transport Fare Watch for April 2022 which was released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which covers bus journey within the city per drop constant route; bus journey intercity, state route, charge per person; airfare charge for specified routes single journey; journey by motorcycle (Okada) per drop; and waterway passenger transport, air transport recorded the highest increase, closely followed by okada.

The average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes on single journey, increased by 18.57% on a month-on-month basis from N46, 810.62 in March 2022 to N55, 501.49 in April 2022. On a year-on-year basis, this rose by 52.44% from N36, 409.46 in April 2021.

The average fare paid by commuters for bus journey intercity per drop rose by 8.75% from N3, 270.94 in March 2022 to N3, 557.15 in April 2022. However, it rose by 45.38% on a year-on-year basis from N2, 446.86 in April 2021. Similarly, 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% 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.

In addition, 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.

According to NBS, the average transport fare across states for specified single routes single journey showed that the states with the lowest average airfare are Bauchi, Kano, Edo (N50,000), Enugu(51,606) and Jigawa (N51,796)

The average transport fare across states by motorcycle (Okada) per drop showed that the states with the lowest rates are Ogun (211), Anambra (N250) and Jigawa (270). While the average transport intercity fare across states by bus shows that the lowest rates are in Bayelsa (N2, 233), Edo (N2, 323) and Zamfara (N2, 372).

The average transport fare across states within the city by bus per drop, shows that Anambra has the lowest with (N432), Kogi (N450) and Rivers (453).

The NBS also released selected Food Price Watch for the month of April 2022 and it shows that the average price of 1kg of Beans (white, black eye, sold loose) rose on a year-on-year basis by 44.32% from N359.64 in April 2021 to N519.05 in April 2022. Also, on a month-on-month basis, this increased by 2.59% from N505.94 in March 2022.

The average price of Bread Sliced 500g increased on a year-on-year basis by 35.31% from N332.95 in April 2021 to N450.51 in April 2022. On a month-on-month basis, the average price of this item increased by 0.61% in April 2022.

Similarly, the average price of 1kg Yam tuber on a year-on-year basis, rose by 42.88% from the value recorded in April 2021 (N252.80) to N361.20 in April 2022. On a month-on-month basis, it increased from N353.56 in March 2022 to N361.20 in April 2022, indicating 2.16% growth.

In the same vein, the average price of Palm oil: (1 bottle, specify bottle) increased by 45.59% from N578.86 in April 2021 to N842.75 in April 2022. It also grew by 0.06% on a month-on-month basis.