President Tinubu has approved a 50% discount on road transport travel across the country from December 21, 2023, to January 4 next year.
The Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Dele Alake, who disclosed this to journalists at the State House in Abuja said the action was part of Tinubu’s initiatives aimed at easing the lives of Nigerians, particularly during the festive season.
Alake, who serves as the Chairman of a four-member Inter-ministerial Committee on Presidential Intervention, explained that the initiative was particularly targeted at the masses intending to travel and reunite with their loved ones during the festive season.
The other committee members include the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris; Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali; and the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
He clarified: “In the spirit of Christmas and demonstration of his love for Nigerians as proof, he feels the Federal Government should intervene to bring down the costs of public transportation to allow persons who want to travel to visit their loved ones.
“It is in this wise that the Federal Government is announcing, beginning from tomorrow, a special discounted holiday season fare on road transport and zero-fare by rail across Nigeria.
“What this means is that from tomorrow, Nigerians willing to travel can board public transport via minibuses, luxury buses at a 50% discount of 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”, the minister added.
According to him, to ensure the success of the intervention, 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.
Alake specifically said that “from tomorrow, Nigerians wishing to embark on inter-state travel to any part of the country from Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Ibadan, Akure, Maiduguri, Sokoto and other major inter-state transportation hubs will be able to do so at half the cost.”
