The Nation Newspaper

Tag: buses

  • Command college gets nine buses

    The Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji, Kaduna State, has bought nine 56-seater luxury buses to solve the school’s transport challenge.

    The new buses were inaugurated yesterday by the Commandant of the college, Air Vice Marshal John Chris Ifemeje.

    Ifemeje said the college, in the last 15 years, had been confronted with transportation challenges, especially when its students had to go on tour.

    He said: “Our students go on about 17 study tours, both operational and strategic, every now and then. It has been a serious challenge transporting them to such tours across the country.”

    “So, that is why we had to appeal to the Federal Government to provide what you are now seeing. Now, we thank God that we have solves that problem, because without these vehicles, it has always been a problem transporting our students and staff.”

    The commandant added that provisions had been made for the maintenance of the buses.

    He said the drivers would undergo two weeks of specialised training at the Nigerian Army Peace Keeping Centre (NAPKC) in Jaji to maintain the vehicles.

     

  • Edo students apologise for burnt govt buses

    A coalition of tertiary students in Edo State has apologised to Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole for the burning of a luxury bus belonging to the state government by some University of Benin (UNIBEN) students during a protest last week.

    The UNIBEN students were angry that the government demolished parts of the buildings some of their lecturers and former lecturers were staying.

    A High Court had ruled in favour of the state government in a suit between the government and UNIBEN authorities.

  • Buses’ repair excites students

    Buses’ repair excites students

    There was jubilation at the Federal Polytechnic, Offa (OFFA) over the repair of buses which take students from the Offa Campus to the permanent site in Ojoku by the management. AFEEZ ADEYEMO (ND II Mass Communication) reports.

    Initially, students of the Federal Polytechnic, Offa (OFFA POLY) in Kwara State, saw the institution’s shuttle service as a luxury. The transport scheme was introduced almost four years ago by the management to ease students’ movement from the Offa Campus to the permanent site in Ojoku town.

    Two weeks ago, however, students knew the value of the service they had been enjoying when the two buses used for the scheme broke down. It was no more a smooth journey to the permanent site. The vehicles developed engine faults from lack of maintenances.

    Ojoku is about six kilometres from Offa. Students pay N20 per trip to the permanent site, compared to the higher fare charged by commercial vehicle drivers.

    The development resulted in hardship for the students, who receive lectures at the permanent site. Some, who attempted to stay with their colleagues in hostels at the permanent site, were not allowed by school security personnel, who reportedly told the squatters that management frowned at such act.

    The alternative for students to meet  morning lecture was to ride on commercial motorcycles known as Okada, whose riders, students said, carried three passengers, thereby endangering their lives.

    The development made the Students’ Union Government (SUG), led by Festus Adedeji, to plead with the management to repair the buses to reduce students’ stress.

    There was jubilation on the campus when the buses started operation last week. It was gathered that the management ordered that the buses be repaired. A source told our correspondent that the management chided the buses’ drivers for lack of maintenance and failure to attend to the mechanical fault observed in the vehicle.

    Students praised the management and the union for responding to their plight. They described the Rector, Dr Mufutau Olatinwo, as a caring father.

    An official at the Works and Transport Department, who refused to give his name, said the management had ordered periodic maintenance work on the buses.

    Festus cautioned students against misusing the buses, urging them to always be orderly whenever they want to use the vehicles.

    He said: “The management will not hesitate to deal with any student that violates the rules or attempts to vandalise the school property.”

    Opeyemi Amao, an ND II Marketing student, hailed the management and the union for responding quickly. He said no student valued the service until the buses broke down. “We realised the importance of the buses. If the management had not provided the buses, no one would have been able to predict what could happen to students receiving lecture at the permanent site. We cannot afford to be paying N200 per day as fare in commercial buses,” he said.

    Francis Akinjo, an ND II Business and Administration student, urged the management to release more buses to complement the existing ones. He said it was improper for students to queue for hours, waiting for the buses to return from the permanent site.

    In his opinion, Olawale Kareem, ND 1 Accountancy student, believe the management and not the SUG deserved praises for bringing back the buses. He said: “Students’ Union cannot be the one that discussed with the management to repair the buses. All they know is to speak high-sounding grammar. Management did what was right.”

    He urged the SUG leaders to always think about students’ welfare.

     

  • Aregbesola provides 30 buses for public schools

    Aregbesola provides 30 buses for public schools

    A day after the landmark commissioning of 100 units of Handheld Ultrasound Scanners, four units of 3D Colour Doppler Scan machines and splashed N370 million welfare scheme on women empowerment, the Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, added another feat in the chain of welfare programmes yesterday as he launched 30 new civilian buses for students of public schools in the state.

    Tagged “Omoluabi Scholar Bus”, the newly purchased civilian buses are meant to convey students from their respective homes to schools and back every school day.

    Aregbesola said if the government’s quest for enduring socio-economic progress is to be achieved, government’s commitment to education and the future of the children cannot be superficial.

    The governor said his administration embarked on this laudable programme because it’s dangerous to play politics with the education of children.

    He said that the realisation of the importance of education and development of human capacity building prompted his government to create the best possible environment for the development of the total person.

    He described the provision of buses for transporting the students as another proof of government’s focused attention to education.

    “The buses we are rolling out today for the use of our high school students are another solid proofs of the importance and undivided attention our government genuinely accords education.

    “With the O’Scholar Buses, the culture of punctuality will be further deepened in our students. They will be encouraged to get ready in time for the bus and in so doing get to school on time.

    “And while on the bus to or from school, or travelling to and from school events, they will have the time to further bond together, reflect on their work and exchange useful ideas.

    “One of the unique characteristics of our administration’s programmes is that they ensure the empowerment of the people. This explains why no single household in all of the state is without positive testimonies of the impacts of our programmes on them,” Aregbesola said.

    He added that the buses will provide comfort and ease for students and parents and create employment for those who will be driving the buses.

    In her remark, the Deputy Governor, who is also the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Grace Titi Laoye-Tomorri, noted that the provision of the buses is another demonstration of government’s commitment to providing quality and qualitative education for the children.

    She charged the students to make the best use of the buses and maximise the opportunities the buses afford them.

    The Managing Director of Sterling Bank PLC, represented by Mr. Ademola Adeyemi, Regional Business Executive, South-West (2), said the bank finds it profitable to partner government in providing the buses.

    Adeyemi noted that Sterling Bank will continue to partner  government in realising its noble programmes.

    He enjoined all the stakeholders to make judicious use of the scholar buses to benefit  all.

    One of the beneficiaries, a student of St. Mark Anglican School, Osogbo, Miss Olatunji Oluwakemi, commended the governor for making education one of his administration’s top priorities.

    Oluwakemi said Aregbesola’s government has made a lot of impact such as  the provision of Opon Imo, free school feeding, free uniforms, building of ultra-modern schools as well as construction of roads.

    She implored the people of the state to vote wisely by returning Aregbesola to continue his laudable programmes in the state.

  • Lawmaker donates buses to Kwara PDP

    Lawmaker donates buses to Kwara PDP

    The senator representing Kwara South at the National Assembly, Simeon Ajibola, has donated four Sienna buses to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state to aid its campaign for the 2015 elections.

    It was gathered that three of the buses are meant for the party secretariats in the three senatorial districts of the state and one in the state’s party secretariat in Ilorin, the state capital.

    The senator also gave out 950 bags of rice as Ramadan gifts to members of the party in all the wards in the 16 local government areas of the state.

    Speaking during the presentation of the materials in Ilorin, the state chair of the party, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo represented by the publicity secretary, Chief Rex Kolawole, also announced the donation of another bus to the party by Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Makanjuola Ajadi.

    He said that the donation would put the party in good stead for the task ahead in 2015.

    He also said that one of the political leaders in the state, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, also donated bags of rice for distribution to party members in the state.

    Akogun Oyedepo, who enjoined other politicians in the state to always reach out to people in their areas towards endearing them to ideals and programmes of the party, said that politicians who is out to serve his people must be prepared to sacrifice for the people.

    He expressed gratitude to Senator Ajibola for the gesture, promising to put the vehicles and other materials to good use and for welfare of the party supporters.

    The donor, who was represented by one of his associates, Elder John Yusuf, said the items were part of the pledges made by the lawmaker during the fund raising programme organised by the party recently.

    He described Senator Ajibola as a loyal party man, who had never wavered in his support for the PDP in the state.

    At another empowerment programme and distribution of food items to members in Offa and Oyun local government areas of the state, the PDP was optimistic that the senator’s gesture could bring victory for the party in the 2015 general elections in the state.

    The PDP chairman in Oyun Local Government Area, Taiye Olaniyi, commended the lawmaker’s efforts in reaching out to members in 193 wards in the state.

    The party chairman urged other chieftains of the party in the state to emulate development strides of the lawmaker, saying that the assistance of every PDP leader to members during Ramadan would help sustain party structure towards achieving success.

    He also used the occasion to implore party members to go out in large number and participate in voters’ registration exercise, saying that was the only way they could justify their support for the party during the election.

    Hon. Olaniyi also appealed to all PDP governorship aspirants in the state not to take politics as do or die affair, saying that God bestows power to whoever He likes and advised that the party should support whoever emerges as candidate.

    Also speaking, Senator S S Ajibola, who was represented by his special assistant on Legislative Matters, Alhaji Fatai Akorede, charged the wards leaders to always play the politics of inclusiveness, saying the current situation of the party in the state calls for cohesion of all stakeholders.

    “The victory we are are clamouring for can only be achieved if we all work together as one to ensure victory for the party come 2015,” he added.

    Akorede also said that Senator Ajibola had always support the mobilization of the party members during the local government congresses, adding that the lawmaker always loved to assist people at the grassroots.

  • Bank gives 65 buses to transporters

    The Infrastructure Bank has recovered 95 per cent of the N10.5 billion loans it granted under the first phase of the Public Mass Transit Revolving Fund (PMTF).

    Mr. Adekunle Oyinloye, the Managing Director, disclosed this at the handing-over of 65 mass transit buses worth N800 million to beneficiaries in Lagos at the weekend.

    He said the recovery of the loans had grown the mass transit revolving loans base to N15 billion.

    Oyinloye said the bank was already working on ways to recover the remaining five per cent through effective risk management system.

    He said the bank, as the fund manager of the PMTF Scheme Two, was working in collaboration with Subsidy Re-investment Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), the financier of the Scheme Two.

    Oyinloye admonished beneficiaries of the Scheme Two not to regard the buses as “political largess”.

    He said that the government had to change the five per cent interest rate per annum under the Scheme One to zero per cent interest under Scheme Two.

    According to him, the bank expects beneficiaries under the Scheme Two to pay on time because of the zero interest rate.

    The bank chief said that the buses were to be fully paid for in order to sustain the scheme, which he described as “laudable and people-oriented”.

    Oyinloye stressed that it was only through prompt re-payment that more Nigerian road transporters could benefit, warning that the bank would not tolerate any default by beneficiaries

    He said that under the Scheme Two, every beneficiary had to collaterise their loans to ensure recovery of the facilities.

    “There is a risk management framework around the scheme, so every beneficiary has to collaterise what he has taken one way or another.

    “If we morally persuade them and it does not work on time, we will consider the next step to get our money back because the money belongs to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    “It is meant for the masses because for other beneficiaries to benefit, previous beneficiaries must pay back,” Oyinloye said.

    He that the aim of PMTF was to enhance national transport services through the Federal Government resources under the SURE-P.

    “I can tell you that from the offices of LAMATA, Transport Ministry to LAGBUS, everybody is indeed happy with the presence of our buses on the streets.

    “I want the public to know that this is not the first time Lagos is benefiting from the scheme. Since 2010 when the first scheme started, a lot of our buses ply Lagos roads.”

  • Council chief donates buses to schools

    Council chief donates buses to schools

    The Chairman of Kwali Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Hon. Daniel Ibrahim has donated 17 buses to junior secondary schools in the area council.

    The buses, which were inaugurated in Kwali by the Minister of State for the FCT and supervising Minister of Police Affairs Olajumoke Akinjide, were presented to Principals of the 17 junior secondary schools. The buses were not only meant to promote administrative convenience in the schools but will also augment the transportation arrangements for students on excursion, among other purposes.

    While inaugurating the buses, Akinjide said: “The need for school buses, in the running of academic institutions, cannot be over-emphasised. Transport facilities are needed to attend inter-school debates, symposium, sports competition and other outside engagements. School buses also promote the brand of a school.”

    “I urge other area councils to emulate this exemplary initiative by contributing towards the creation of enabling learning environment for school pupils in their various area councils.

    “These children are not only the leaders of tomorrow but also the entire future of our society. Whatever values we cultivate in them today is what they will grow up with.”

    She commended the Chairman for his thoughtfulness, even as she urged the school authorities to devote the buses to the purpose for which they have been procured and to ensure their effective maintenance.

    In his speech, Hon. Ibrahim explained that the 17 buses were for the schools while one extra bus was for the Nigerian Union of Teachers, Kwali branch.

    Continuing, he said: “Similarly, scholarship of about N10.5 million was paid to Mr. Daniel Gamu a pilot student of International Pilot School, Ilorin.

    “I still have the desire to procure more buses for the senior secondary schools in no distant time so that the problem of lack of buses for schools will be laid to rest.

  • Uduaghan inaugurates 130 buses for Warri/Effurun BRT route

    Intra-state and city transportation in Delta State received a boost with the inauguration of 130 buses by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan penultimate Monday.

    The move followed the commencement of operation by 130 mid-capacity boats acquired by the state government for water transport to riverside communities in the state and its environs.

    The buses, comprising 100 Toyota Hiace (14-seater buses) and 30 Innoson high capacity buses will add to a fleet of nearly 1,000 modern buses operated by the Delta State Mass Transport Programme and its Private Public Partners.

    Speaking at the inauguration of the buses in Asaba the state capital, Governor Uduaghan pledged to further boost the programme in order to remove wobbly and unworthy cars and buses from the streets of major cities.

    He said: “The state government is determined to banish rickety buses for mass transit from our roads and ensure that people of Delta State move around in comfortable vehicles.

    “With this inauguration, the state now has over 700 18-seater Hiace buses and 130 Tata, Marcopolo and Innoson buses for intra- and inter-city mass transit scheme with the broad goal of providing safe, reliable, efficient and integrated transport operations.”

    The governor further explained that the state government was partnering with the private sector in the mass transit programme, even as he urged the private operators participating in the scheme to always make prompt returns.

    He averred that prompt repayment by the beneficiaries would ensure that more buses are procured and distributed to others waiting on the wings of the very successful scheme.

    “Prompt payment by you (beneficiaries) is the only way more buses can be bought and distributed for the benefit of our people and the state at large,” Governor Uduaghan said.

    While appealing to the operators to continue to maintain the 50 per cent fare subsidy contained in their agreement with the government, Governor Uduaghan urged the drivers to take care of their buses by ensuring regular maintenance of their vehicles. This, he said, will ensure safety and comfort of passengers as well as their own business interest.

    In the same manner, he urged people of Delta State to support and co-operate with the government to enable those in authority and the governed to contribute to the development of the state.

    “This administration remains committed to evolving more people-oriented policies and programmes that would have direct bearing on people’s lives. We pray and hope with faith that the coming year would usher in more peace, progress, prosperity and fulfilment for all across the state,” he said.

    In his remarks, the Commissioner for Transport, Hon. Benson Igbakpa, revealed that the state government has approved the construction of a 12.55 kilometres bus rapid transit system in Warri, the third BRT in Africa meant to transport a total of 42,000 passengers per day with 70 buses running simultaneously.

    Igbakpa, who later spoke in a telephone chat with our reporter, further disclosed that contracts for the construction of the BRT lanes have been awarded. He added that the contractors are being mobilised to commence construction in January this year.

    “With the new traffic law signed by His Excellency the governor, sanity will be maintained in our roads. This, along with all these buses, is expected to improve road transport in Delta State. The Warri BRT is expected to transport some 42,000 passengers daily.

    “We expect that very soon, people will start patronising public transport more and those who have cars would prefer to ride in government buses for convenience and ease. This will improve traffic flow because right now, there are just too many vehicles on the road.

    “The governor has promised more buses in the days ahead. When we complete all the projects relating to the transport initiative: the BRT lane, mega bus terminal and junctions, the state will wear a new look and people will appreciate the vision of the governor,” Igbakpa stated.

    Meanwhile, the commissioner revealed efforts to improve water transportation in the state. He disclosed that 130 boats, tagged ‘water buses’ acquired for riverside movement of travellers, goods and services have been inaugurated.

    “The boats have been allocated to the private operators. Before we did the allocation, we built 30 jetties to ease their operation and there is plan to do more in that regard. So, nothing is being left undone here,” he said.

     

  • Orji donates buses to six institutions

    Orji donates buses to six institutions

    Abia State Governor Theodore Orji has rewarded students of the six institutions based in the state with six 30-seater luxury buses for their good conducts.

    Governor Orji premised his gesture on the absence of student’s unrest since the he mounted the saddle.

    The institutions include the Federal Government-owned Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike and five others owned by the state. They include: Abia State University, Uturu; Abia Poly; and College of Health Technology, both in Aba; College of Education (Technical), Arochukwu; and Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba.

    Speaking in Umuahia at the handing over of the buses, Orji said the buses are to be handed over to the various governing boards of the respective institutions for proper management. He urged them to make good use of the vehicles for the benefit of the students.

    He said the nine outstanding buses with the inscription: ‘Free School Shuttle,’ are mandated to transport school children across primary and secondary schools in the state free, and will be managed by a committee headed by Anthony Osuwa.

    He recalled that in 2007 when his administration came into Office, he introduced the free school buses for both pupils and students of the state, and therefore decided to increase the fleet to accommodate more students due to the increase in school enrolment in the state.

    He directed that five of the free school buses should operate in the

    state capital while four will be deployed to the commercial city of Aba for the use of the students in that part of the state. He added that the nine new buses will add to the already existing fleet.

    Orji described his administration as transparent and visionary, stressing that he cannot afford to toy with the welfare of the pupils and students of the state, as they have done the state proud in various national competitions in different parts of the federation.

    He said: “It is part of this administration’s gift to such institutions and to appreciate the Federal Government for bringing such institutions to our state.”

    Responding on behalf of other benefiting institutions, the Rector of Abia Polytechnic, Alwell Onukaogu said the new buses would help ease transportation problems being faced by students and pupils daily.

  • 30 buses for Abia transport firm

    Abia State Governor Theodore Orji has purchased 30 new mini buses for the state transport company, Abia Line Network Company.

    Orji said the purchase of the buses is part of the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan in the transport sector.

    Speaking in Umuahia while handing over the keys of the buses to the general manager of the company, Orji said he has never interfered in the affairs of the transport company, but in the event he decides to do that, it will be disastrous for the company and its management.

    Orji said: “It has always had one problem or the other to the extent that it was finding it difficult to pay its workers. Instead of it to improve upward, and it has been going downward. I want it to change this time around or…”

    The governor explained that 10 more of the buses will be coming in very soon to increase the number to 40 buses, adding that it will help to reduce the unemployment rate in the state, as more drivers and their assistants will be engaged.