People no longer travel, says NURTW

 

The Kaduna State branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has reported a significant decrease of over 50 percent in traveler numbers as the Yuletide season nears.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday, Malam Bature Suleiman, the state NURTW Secretary, highlighted that this decline is primarily attributed to the considerable increase in transportation fares resulting from the rise in fuel pump prices.

“People no longer travel but only prefer to send messages to their loved ones. Sadly, if you go to our motor parks now, you will see a lot of vehicles waiting without passengers.

“People don’t have money to travel until it becomes necessary; they prefer to waybill messages,” Suleiman noted.

He said commercial motorists were running at a loss due to the poor economic situation of the country, adding, “Apart from the increase of fuel price, we have a lot of bad roads, and a lot of policies taken on the transportation sector are not favourable.”

The official lamented alleged multiple taxes which members of the union had been paying, describing the situation as very bad.

He said, “There are lots of revenues attached to transportation as the government now seems to have its focus on the sector. Currently, there is an increment so much that what the driver would get at the end of the day is nothing to write home about. Drivers would just be doing the work without any gain in it.”