The Federal Government on Wednesday announced 50 per cent reduction in transportation costs along 22 interstate routes during the festive season.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr Dele Alake, disclosed this when he briefed State House correspondents at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Also, the spokesperson for the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Segun Falade, said the union would commence the implementation of the fare subsidy on Thursday (today).
Alake said the 50 per cent reduction in the fares was arrived at in conjunction with companies operating luxury buses.
He added that President Bola Tinubu had directed that Travellers on all train services would get free rides from Thursday (today) to January 4, 2024.
He said:
“President Tinubu wants Nigerians to travel within Nigeria to wherever they want to meet their loved ones without the extra burden of paying exorbitantly for inter-state public transportation.
“It is in this wise that the Federal Government is announcing, beginning tomorrow (today), a special discounted holiday season fare on road transport and zero-fare by rail across Nigeria.
“This means that from tomorrow, Nigerians willing to travel can board public transportation via luxury buses at a 50 per cent discount on current cost and all our train services on the routes the trains currently serve at zero cost to and fro on their travels this holiday season.
This special presidential intervention will commence tomorrow, Thursday, December 21.
It will end on January 4, 2024.
The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Transportation, will be working with transporters, road transport unions, and Nigerian Railway Corporation to seamlessly deliver on this special presidential initiative.”
