Everybody is just doing as they like, how can you say Lagos to Abuja is N154,000?

AIR travellers have begun groaning bitterly under the prohibitive fares airline operators have rolled out for flights within Nigeria as a one-hour flight now costs over a hundred thousand (N100, 000) naira.

When The PUNCH visited the domestic wings of the Lagos airport on Tuesday, many of the travellers lamented the sharp increase in airfares.

An investigation by our correspondent revealed that economy class domestic tickets from Lagos to Abuja via Arik Air, United Nigeria and Air Peace as of the time of filing this report cost over N150,000, while other airlines have since followed suit.

An angry traveller who gave his name only as Ubong and claimed to have been a frequent traveller said, “This is not the time to ask for my name, the Federal Government and all those concerned should do the needful. Why does the average Nigerian have to suffer? I mean, we are an oi producing nation, why are we suffering?

Everybody is just doing as they like, how can you say Lagos to Abuja is N154,000? Am I plucking money from the tree? The roads are not safe, so travel by road and get kidnapped. Those that were kidnapped inside the train,  many months ago, are still in captivity. Which account will I write this expense?”

Another traveller who said she had to make the trip as she was going on business said, “The Nigerian travelling populace is made up of mostly business people, should we now spend all our earnings on air transport? I can’t even begin to explain how this makes me feel.”