Traveling for Christmas in 2018: All over the world, the ember months keep people energized and bursting with excitement. This last quarter of the year is when all the jollification, partying and family reunion happens, that time when you have to leave whatever it is that has been holding you from the beginning of the year until the very end and find your way back to those that matter to you, a time to cherish,, share life experiences, make jokes, go over childhood memories, have a blast with series of consumables, hang out at interesting spots, see a movie with family, visit the zoo etc. the list is typically endless. One of the ember months stand out from the rest and without being told, everyone already knows that the almighty December is being referenced here as it plays host yearly to the birth of one of the greatest men to ever walk the surface of the earth, a man of the spiritual realm, who descended into the body of man to live amongst its subject just to know how to best serve them and that man is no other than Jesus Christ.
Another feature of December that endears it to the heart of all and sundry is the closeness of the last day of everyone’s favorite month i.e. December 31st to the first day of each year, this last day of December is where the magic happens everywhere around the world, in Nigeria for instance, there is usually a watchnight around the nation, a night for friends, families and work associates to gather round in clubhouses, churches and other agreed upon places to have the last bit of fun, make plans for the new year, review the plans made the previous year and for those who are believers, pray, bind plus cast every spirit that might make the year they are about to enter an uneventful year. Regardless of how colorful the picture I have painted above might occur, there are several factors that might make it less desirable for some. One of such factors is transportation.
Transportation in Nigeria is essential to our day to day activities. Whether you like it or not, moving from place to place every day is as important as getting something to eat in the morning, afternoon and night. The bummer with transportation in Nigeria especially during the festive period is usually split in two ways; i)Greed & ii) fuel Scarcity. From the greed point of view, it cannot be said to only be a Nigerians thing as many all over the world activate their rush hour mode very close to the end of the year, November/December to be precise, all their dreams and ambitions that they had refused to work towards from the beginning of the year becomes something they get “passionate” or clearly put, desperate about at the very end of the year. It is the reason why there are so many ritual killings and accidents in the ember months, everyone everywhere are rushing to achieve something, it might be that housing project they had been working on for a couple of months now, extra cash to get a brand new car, money to get Christmas provisions for various family members etc.
Fuel scarcity, on the other hand, has been something that has been plaguing the nation for long, the issue can be traced as far back as 1966 when General Yakubu Gowon was head of state, petrol pump price in from 6kobo to 8.45kobo. Here is an overview of how fuel prices have increased in Nigeria over the years.
| Head of State | period | Former price | After price change | Hike percentage |
| Muritala | 1976 | 8.45k | 9k | 0.59% |
| Obasanjo | October 1, 1978 | 9k | 15.3k | 70% |
| Shagari | April 20, 1982 | 15.3k | 20k | 30.71% |
| Babangida | March 31 1986 | 20k | 39.5k | 97.5% |
| 42k | ||||
| 60k | ||||
| 60k | ||||
| 70k | ||||
| Shonekan | N5 | |||
| Abacha | 3.25k | |||
| October 2,1994 | N3.25k | N15 | 361.54% | |
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|
October 4,1994 | N15 | N11 | -26.67% |
| Abubakar | December, 20, 1998 | N11 | N25 | 127.27% |
| January 6,1999 | N25 | N20 | -20% |
These two humongous factors hit Nigeria as a nation yearly and nothing has been done to curb it and ease the hardship of its citizens during the festive periods i.e. New year, Christmas celebration, Easter celebration, eid kabir, sallah and during the nationwide celebrated independence day. As of today, the 8th day of December. 2018, these are the transport prices as gathered from different sources;
| Lagos To Umuahia By Road. —-> N5,500 Lagos To Warri By Road. N4,500 Lagos To Asaba By Road. N4,000 Return Ticket Is N6,500 Lagos To Benin By Road. N3,000 Return Ticket Is N5,000 #CrossCountryTransport Lagos To Onitsha By Road. N4,500 Return Ticket is N6,500 #CrossCountryTransport Lagos To Maiduguri By Road. N8,500 ReturnTicket is N13,500 #CrossCountryTr ansport Lagos To Bauchi by road. N8,000 Return Ticket is N12,000 #CrossCountryTransport Lagos To Jos by road. N6,500 Return Ticket is N11,000 #CrossCountryTransport Lagos To Eket By Road. N7,000 Return Ticket is N10,000 #CrossCountryTransport Lagos To Minna By Road.. N6,500#CrossCou ntryTransport Lagos To Uyo By Road. N6,500 Return Ticket is N9,000 Lagos To Calabar By Road N7,000 Return Ticket is N10,000 Lagos To Owerri By Road. N5,500 Return Ticket is N8,000 #CrossCountryTransport Lagos To Portharcout By Road. N5,900 Return Ticket is N9,000#CrossCountryTransport Lagos To Markurdi By Road N5,000 Return Ticket is N8,500 Lagos To Lafia By Road . N6,500 Return Ticket is N10,000 #CrossCountryTransport Lagos To Kaduna By Road. N6,500 Return Ticket is N11,900 Lagos To Kano By ROAD. N8,000 Return Ticket N13,000 #CrossCountryTransport Lagos To Sokoto By ROAD. N8,000 Return Ticket N13,000 #CrossCountryTransport Lagos To Abuja by Road. N5,900 Return Ticket is N9,000 #CrossCountryTransport GOD IS Good MotorsAbuja – Asaba Class Price Normal N4050 Benin – Lagos Benin – Abuja Iyana-Ipaja – Benin Volks – Benin Asaba – Abuja Asaba – Lagos Volks – Onitsha Iyana-Ipaja – Onitsha Enugu – Abuja Enugu – Lagos Abuja – Enugu Lagos(Festac Gate) – Enugu Abuja(Utako) – Benin Abuja(Utako) – Lagos Abuja(Utako) – Onitsha Lagos(Festac Gate) – Onitsha Lagos(Festac Gate) – Abuja Iyana-Ipaja – Abuja Ajah – Onitsha Ajah – Benin Ajah – Abuja Ajah – Enugu Ajah – Warri Ajah – Port-Harcourt Ajah – Bayelsa ABC TRANSPORTLAGOS – AWKA BY ROAD. —>N4,900 RETURN TICKET—–> N9,400 LAGOS – ABUJA BY ROAD—> N5,100 RETURN TICKET —–> N9,800 LAGOS – BENIN REGULAR CLASS N1,900 EXECUTIVE EXPRESS N2,000 RETURN TICKET N3,400 LAGOS – CALABAR BY ROAD LAGOS – JOS LAGOS – KADUNA BY ROAD. —> N5,870 RETURN TICKET IS N10,540 LAGOS – ONITSHA —> N 4900 LAGOS – OWERRI —-> N4,900 LAGOS – PORT HARCOURT —> N4,900. LAGOS – UMUAHIA–> N4,600 LAGOS – UYO——>N 5500 Lagos – Aba Lagos – Accra Lagos – Akwanga Lagos – Awka Lagos – Cotonou Lagos – Enugu Lagos – Gwagwalada Lagos – Lome By Road. Lagos – Mbaise Lagos – Nineth mile YOUNG SHALL GROW TRANSPORTLAGOS – ABA —> N4,000.. TAK OFF TIME IS 6am LAGOS – ABUJA BY ROAD–>N4,500.. TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am. LAGOS – CALABAR BY ROAD N4,500 TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am LAGOS –ENUGU BY ROAD. N3,500 TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am LAGOS – BENIN (COTONOU) BY ROAD. N2,000 TAKE OFF TIME Is 6am LAGOS – GHANA. BY ROAD. N8,000 TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am LAGOS – JOS BY ROAD N5,000 TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am LAGOS – KADUNA BY ROAD N4,500 TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am LAGOS – KANO BY ROAD. N5,000 TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am LAGOS – MAIDUGURI BY ROAD. N7,500 TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am #YSGTRANSPORT LAGOS – ONITSHA BY ROAD IS N3,500. TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am #YSGTRANSPORT LAGOS – OWERRI BY ROAD IS N3,500. TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am #YSGTRANSPORT LAGOS – PORT HARCOURT BY ROAD IS N3,700. TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am LAGOS – SOKOTO BY ROAD IS N5,500. TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am #YSGTRANSPORT LAGOS – UMUAHIA BY ROAD IS N3,500. TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am #YSGTRANSPORT LAGOS – UYO BY ROAD IS N5,500. TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am #YSGTRANSPORT LAGOS – YOLA BY ROAD IS N8,000. TAKE OFF TIME IS 6am #YSGTRANSPORT Lagos – Oron By Road—–> N5,500 #YoungShallGrowTransport Take Off Time 6am.. And 6pm Lagos – Okigwe By Road—-> N3,500 #YoungShallGrowTransport Take Off Time 6am.. And 6pm Lagos – Ohafia By Road—-> N4,000 #YOUNGSHALLGROWTRANSPORT Take Off Time 6am.. And 6pm Lagos – Ogoja(Calabar)—> N5,500 #YoungShallGrowTransport Take Off Time 6am.. And 6pm Lagos – Neni By Road—> N3,500. #YoungShallGrowTransport Take Off Time 6am.. And 6pm Lagos – Ivory Coast By Roa—>N20,000 #YoungShallGrowTransport Take Off Time 6am.. And 6pm Lagos – Akokwa By Road——> N3,500 #YoungShallGrowTransport Take Off Time 6am.. And 6pm Lagos – Abakaliki —-> N4,000 CHISCO TRANSPORTAba – Abuja ——-> N3,200 Aba-Alaba/Alafia/Jibowu/Mazamaza/Oyingbo/ Lekki ———-> N3,200 Abuja – Mazamaza/Oyingbo/Alafia/Alaba/Lekki –> N4,000 Alafia – Amichi—-> N2,500 Alafia – Owerri ———-> N2,900 Ghana-Alafia/Mazamaza/Oyingbo/Lekki —— > N6,590 Jibowu – Abuja ——–> N4,000 Mazamaza – Abuja ——-> N3,600 |
As of now, the prices seem pretty decent but, no one can predict what the prices will look like in weeks to come, following trends of recent years, it is safe to say these prices may experience a hike that will either be attributed to fuel scarcity, which has no definite status quo as of now or it might be attributed to the various transportation firms’ quest to make quick money during the festive period. Regardless, you should be in the know of the price fluctuations and your need to be prepared mentally and financially for the festive period spending.
December festivities are here upon us already in a flash, there is no need to prove to anyone that you have more money than they do, there is no need to give yourself unrealistic expectations, do whatever it is you can afford that won’t hurt you now and in the future as it is the nest thing you can do for yourself, your future self and your loved ones.
What is the transport situation on your end. How are the cost of inter-state travels around you. Care to share with us?
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