Yuletide: 6 important tips for safe, comfortable travels On Nigerian roads

It's Christmas, and we are all happy! As families across Nigeria bask in the joy of the season, a lot of people also travel home to their villages and the families who remain in town, come together to celebrate and have fun. For those that will be travelling this Christmas, below are some tips you should take of:


1. Book for seats ahead of time: As is applicable in air travel in Nigeria, major transport companies in Nigeria today offer services that allow a would-be traveller to book for his seat days before the travelling date. During Christmas, one of the major problems to expect is crowd management, especially in the eastern route as most Igbos and their neighbours in the old Eastern Nigeria use Christmas period as the time of annual family and community reunion. As a result, community festivities and most family festivities, including weddings, are scheduled to hold during Christmas when everybody is expected to visit home. To avoid the rush, book for your seat and for that of the other members of the family you will be travelling with.

2. Hire a very comfortable vehicle for your family alone: If you have a large family and would like to travel exclusively and make use of the rented vehicle at home all through Christmas, this service could be provided by most of the established companies at a very considerate price. Do you know that comfortable family vehicles like Toyota Sienna and even SUV vehicles are currently being offered for rent. You can take advantage of these.

3. Save Yourself Stress of Fragile Items: If your luggage is more than average, and if they are fragile items, you can save yourself the stress and the risk by making use of the haulage and courier services now being provided by most of the established companies. So, you can travel light and allow the transport companies to bring home your luggage.

4. Lodge Nearby: You can get a good lodging accommodation in the city very close to your village. If you are one of the would- be travellers afraid of arriving your village late in the night after the long distance journey, you can book for comfortable and safe accommodation at your destination terminal. Most of the established transport companies now have good and safe lodging facilities at their passenger terminals. The prices sometimes, are far cheaper than conventional hotels.

5. Service Your Vehicle: If you are traveling with your vehicle, ensure you did full service. Ensure your tyres are good, if possible brand new! Also, maintain 100 km or at most 120 km. At that speed, espeially if you set out early, you can conveniently travel from Abuja, Kaduna or Lagos to Aba, Owerri, and any other part of eastern Nigeria.

6. Travel cash light: Banking facilities like ATM can be relied upon to travel cash light. This will reduce fear of high way robberies.