128 travellers from Abuja to Gombe, Bauchi, Yola, and Maiduguri for Christmas celebration were freighted to their destinations by paying only half of the transport fares charged for each of their destinations on Monday, December 25, 2023.
This followed the directive of President Bola Tinubu for 50 per cent discount on transport fares for Nigerians during the yuletide.
The Ministry of Transportation, in a statement issued on Monday by his Director, Press and Public Relations, Olujimi Oyetomi, noted that the north-bound passengers got reimbursement of 50 per cent of the transport fares paid upon boarding their vehicles by the Chairman of the Association of Luxury Bus Owners (ALBON)’s Task Force on the Implementation of the discount, Clement Okuefuna, who personally conducted the disbursement in cash at the Area 1 Motor Park from where most of the buses which conveyed the passengers took off on Christmas Day.
READ ALSO: Yuletide: Tinubu approves 50% discount for road travellers, train free
Oyetomi stated that since the routes to the north were mostly serviced by low-capacity vehicles as opposed to high-capacity luxury vehicles, ALBON has initiated a work arrangement with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), FCT chapter, to service the routes.
“ALBON also made good its promise to publicise venues for boarding the vehicles where passengers could be reimbursed 50 per cent of the fares paid,” he added.
He said eight buses loaded with 16 passengers each, totalling 128 Nigerians got refunded half of transport fares they paid, courtesy of the directive and provisions made for the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
“It was therefore no wonder to hear the politically conscious northern Nigerians cheering and chanting ‘Jagaban, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, 4 plus 4’, even when the intention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR in directing the transport palliative wasn’t towards a political end, but to renew hopes for a better Nigeria,” Oyetomi said.
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