Abuja- Some Abuja residents have explained the perceived low commuter various bus stations in the city, especially along the along the Nyanya-Karishi route,
In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday, some attributed the development to the forthcoming general elections, while others said that some people had decided to change their movement pattern.
Since the Nyanya bombing in April 2014 by boko haram suspects, human and vehicular traffic had become a permanent feature on that route due to increased security checks.
However, in recent times, the situation appear to have diminished considerably with the approach of the elections.
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In his comments Mr John Ogbele, one of the commuters, said:“The people that rush out to town in the morning are not only civil servants; some are contractors while some are business men and women.
“Business has actually declined too because money is not in circulation due to the forthcoming elections; so some people choose to relax at home till they are called for some kind of work.
“It is not fair for one to come out and at the end of the day, he or she will not make sales, do some work or execute some contracts.
“Things are moving very slowly now but after the elections, things will normalize and activities will become serious again.’’
Ogbele also suggested that due to the uncertainty about what might happen after the elections, people were becoming extremely careful about their movements.
“Because people are pre-empting war, fighting or killing of innocent people after the elections, some people have evacuated their families to their various villages,’’ he said.
Another respondent, Mrs Chima Orji, believes that the number of people had not really reduced, rather people had decided to leave their various homes earlier in order to get to their various offices on time.
“When they come out at 4.30 a.m.-5 a.m., they get vehicles on time then definitely at 8 a.m. people may have reduced.
“Some commuters, including me, believe that when they come out around 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., they may not see vehicles to their destinations and may not get to the office until noon.
“I believe they come out earlier to get their various places of work on time,’’ Orji said.
Mrs Abdurrahman Halima, a civil servant also told NAN that the drop in the number of passengers could be due to journeys people made earlier due to fear of post-election war.
“Sometimes, I go late to avoid traffic which commuters encounter early in the morning. I leave the house early in the morning only if I have a lot of work to do in the office.’’ she said.
Similarly, Mr Anthony Bature, a civil servant with the National Industrial Court of Nigeria said he usually left home early to beat the traffic, and to tackle an official matters that need urgent attention.
“Sometimes, I leave the house as early as 5 a.m. if I have a very serious official matter to tackle but if I do not have much official work to do I come out late.
“As at that 5 a.m., I am already at the bus stop so that I can beat the traffic because I do not like being in the hold-up,’’ Bature said.(NAN)
