*Says petrol price rose by 220% in one year
Nigerians have continued to bear the weight of rising energy prices nationwide, with the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), showing an overall increase in transport fares paid by commuters by over 64 per cent year-on-year in November.
The NBS transport fare watch for November 2023 covered bus journeys within the city per drop; bus journeys intercity charge per person; air fare charge for specified routes; journeys by motorcycle (Okada) per drop and waterway passenger transport.
Specifically, on a year-on-year basis, bus fares rose by 64.44 per cent from N637.10 in November 2022, the report said.
The average fare paid by commuters for bus journey intercity per drop was N6,206.53 in November 2023, indicating an increase of 5.45 per cent on a month-on-month basis compared to N5,885.68 in October 2023.
On May 29, President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy, immediately raising petrol prices nationwide. The situation has been further compounded by the skyrocketing diesel, jet fuel and gas prices.
However, to ameliorate the situation, Tinubu during the week announced a slash in public transport fares by 50 per cent and declared free train services for 15 days, covering the Christmas and New Year holidays.
The NBS data for November further indicated that on a year-on-year basis, for air travel, the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes single journey was N81,334.05, as against N73,270.27 in November 2022.
Also, on a year-on-year basis, waterway passenger transportation increased by 34.42 per cent from N1,006.33 in November 2022.
With the removal of the 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on diesel yet to take effect, the average retail price of the product paid by consumers increased by 30.50 per cent on a year-on-year basis from a lower cost of N808.87 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of last year to a higher cost of N1,055.57 per litre in November 2023.
But on a month-on-month basis, an increase of 5.03 per cent was recorded from N1,004.98 in the preceding month of October 2023 to an average of N1,055.57 in November 2023.
“Looking at the variations in the state prices, the top three states with the highest average price of the product in November 2023 included Benue State (N1,280.00), Kaduna State (N1,183.45) and Sokoto State (N1,183.33).
“Furthermore, the top three lowest prices were recorded in the following states namely: Rivers State (N875.00), Abia State (N900.77) and Bayelsa State (N920.00).
“The zonal representation of the average price of diesel showed that the North-central zone had the highest price of N1,123.75 while the South-east zone had the lowest price of N959.69 when compared with other zones,” the NBS report added.
Besides, the average retail price paid by consumers for another energy source, petrol, for November 2023 was N648.93, indicating a 220.49 per cent increase when compared to the value recorded in November 2022, which was N202.48.
Likewise, comparing the average price value with the previous month, that is October 2023, the average retail price increased by 2.90 per cent from N630.63.
“On state profile analysis, Kebbi state had the highest average retail price for petrol, at N691.00. Jigawa and Akwa Ibom states were next, with N677.67 and N675.00, respectively.
“On the other side, Taraba, Kaduna and Lagos States had the lowest average retail prices for petrol, at N618.00, N620.29 and N623.12 respectively. Lastly, on the zonal profile, the South-south zone had the highest average retail price of N663.59, while the North-east zone had the lowest price of N632.75,” the report stated.
For other energy sources, the average retail price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas increased by 5.82 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N4,562.51 recorded in October 2023 to N4,828.18 in November 2023.
