Transport Fares Soar 75% as Petrol, Diesel Prices Rise 222%, 25% in One Year

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The impact of skyrocketing prices of petrol and diesel in the last one year has taken its toll on transportation, with fares rising by as much as 75 per cent in recent times, new data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed.

While the government has allowed the liberalisation of the diesel market for years, on May 29, President Bola Tinubu withdrew the federal government’s subsidy on petrol, with its attendant impact on prices.

For years, Nigeria has not been able to refine its fuels locally due to dilapidated refineries and therefore depends on imports which gulp most of its foreign exchange earnings.

However the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has said that by the end of 2024, Nigeria will stop importation, with the ongoing rehabilitation of the four refineries and expected coming on stream of the Dangote refinery.

The NBS’ “Transport Fare Watch for October 2023”, covers bus journeys within the city per drop; bus journeys intercity; air fare charge for specified routes; journey by motorcycle (Okada) per drop; and waterway passenger transport.

Therefore, the average retail price paid by consumers for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol for the month of October 2023, according to the NBS, was N630.63, indicating a 222.92 per cent increase when compared to the value recorded in October 2022, which was N195.29.

Likewise, comparing the average price value with the previous month of September 2023, the average retail price increased by 0.71 per cent from N626.21.

On state profile analysis, Zamfara state had the highest average retail price for petrol, at N659.38, Gombe and Borno States were next, with N658.33 and N657.27, respectively.

On the other hand, Lagos, Oyo and Delta states had the lowest average retail prices for petrol at N590.95, N592.19 and N599.38 respectively, while on a zonal profile, the North-east zone had the highest average retail price of N644.16, as the South-west zone had the lowest price of N616.81.

Also, the average retail price of Automotive Gas Oil or diesel paid by consumers increased by 25.45 per cent on a year-on-year basis from a lower cost of N801.09 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of October, 2022, to a higher cost of N1004.98 per litre in October 2023.

But on a month-on-month basis, an increase of 12.82 per cent was recorded from N890.80 in the preceding month of September to an average of N1004.98 in October 2023.

Looking at the variations in the state prices, the top three states with the highest average price of the product in October 2023 were all in the North-central zone of the country.

They include Plateau state (N1150.00), Nasarawa state (N1138.00) and Benue state (N1091.67). Furthermore, the least three states with lowest prices were Rivers  (N824.44), Borno  (N827.27) and Kebbi (N845.00).

However, the zonal representation of average price of diesel showed that North-central zone recorded the highest price of N1090.69 while North-east zone had the lowest price of N947.32.

The combined effect of the prices of diesel and petrol raised the average fare paid by commuters for bus journeys within the city per drop on a  year-on-year basis, to rise by 75.45 per cent compared to October 2022.

In addition, the average fare paid by commuters for bus journeys intercity per drop on a year-on-year basis, rose by 53.04 per cent from N3,845.81 in October 2022.

 In air travel, the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes single journey was N78,778.38 in October 2023, an increase of 7.62 per cent on a year-on-year basis, from N73,198.65 in October 2022.

The average transport fare paid on Okada transportation was N507.30 in October 2023 which on a year-on-year basis, rose by 10.75 per cent when compared with October 2022 of N458.05.

Also, for water transport (waterway passenger transportation), the average fare paid in October 2023 on a year-on-year basis, increased by 38.70 per cent from N1,006.22 in October 2022.

Meanwhile, the average retail price per litre of kerosene paid by consumers in October 2023 was N1,303.16, indicating an increase of 0.32 per cent compared to N1,299.03 recorded in September 2023.

It was worse on a year-on-year basis, where the average retail price per litre of the product rose by 25.18 per cent from N1,041.05 in October 2022.

On state profile analysis, the highest average price per litre in October 2023 was recorded in Adamawa with N1,676.19, followed by Abia with N1,555.21 and Abuja with N1,541.67.

On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Kwara with N1,034.29, followed by Kebbi with N1,133.33 and Enugu with N1,134.52.

In addition, analysis by zones showed that the South-east recorded the highest average retail price per litre of kerosene with N1,404.49, followed by the North-east with N1,371.03, while the North-west recorded the lowest with N1,221.22.

As per gallon, the average price of kerosene paid by consumers in October 2023 was N4,581.89, showing an increase of 4.63 per cent from N4,379.31 in September 2023.

“On a year-on-year basis, this increased by 30.28 per cent from N3,516.87 in October 2022. On state profile analysis, Taraba recorded the highest average retail price per gallon of kerosene with N5,500.00, followed by Lagos with N5,484.38 and Adamawa with N5,214.29.

“On the other hand, Delta recorded the lowest price with N3,108.33, followed by Rivers and Ogun with N3,860.00 and N3,900.00 respectively.

“Analysis by zone showed that the North-east recorded the highest average retail price per gallon of kerosene with N5,096.83, followed by the North-west with N4,773.87, while the South-south recorded the lowest with N4,017.76.