Commercial motorcyclists (Okada) in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, have defended the sudden increment in transport fare by 100 per cent within the city.
The motorcyclists, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, said several factors were responsible for the sudden increment in the transport fare.
They attributed it to the high cost of motorcycles and maintenance, as well as the need for them to earn enough to meet the rising cost of food and non-food items, including rent, among others.
According to them, the increment had nothing to do with fuel price or the Christmas season, as the product was still selling at N165 per liter.
One of them, Mr. Beston Ominyi said a new Honda motorcycle that cost N250, 000 in January, was now selling at between N390, 000 to N400, 000.
“Today, we are buying one motorcycle tyre at the cost of N9, 500 as against N5, 500 four months ago.
“A Bajaj motorcycle that was sold at N230, 000 now goes for N350, 000, that is why we increased the fare from N50 to N100 per drop,’’ he said.
Also, Mr. Jerry Odoh said that they had no option but to review the transport fare upwards, because of the high cost of things in the market.
“If you don’t add money on your product then it won’t have value again in this country. Don’t you know that one piece of package water (pure water) is now N20 as against the earlier N10?
“All of us are buying from the same market, so we have to increase the price of our product too. Mind you this has nothing to do with the price of fuel,’’ he added.
Mr. Titus Terseer said increase in transport fare is not usually determined by fuel price alone, but also other contributing factors such as cost of staple food items.
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A visit by NAN correspondent to some spare parts shops and motorcycles major distributors in Makurdi revealed significant increase in the prices of motorcycles.
A new motorcycle now cost between N350, 000 to N400, 000, as against N230, 000 to N250, 000, depending on the brand.
Meanwhile, Mr. Godday Eze, a spare parts seller, attributed the rising cost of motorcycle parts to several factors including high cost of transportation and insecurity.
Eze noted that prices of “everything” have increased overnight, making life difficult for Nigerians, and appealed to the government to intervene by regulating the prices. (NAN)
