Where are the palliative buses?

It all started on the 1st of January, 2012 when in line with a directive from the Federal Government, all filling stations across the country adjusted their pumps and started selling Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at N141 per litre instead of the previous price of N65. News had filtered into newsrooms on the last day of 2011 that the Federal Government through the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) had gone ahead to implement its subsidy withdrawal policy with effect from the first day of the year.

Many Nigerians were taken aback. Most were disappointed, angry and frustrated; some had traveled to their respective villages for the Yuletide and was faced with the reality of paying more than a hundred percent higher than they paid earlier. It was insensitivity on display coming from government and it attracted outright rejection from Nigerians.

Aside the festive timing of the new price, some government officials had assured Nigerians that the policy would not take effect until April, 2012. So, Nigerians were preparing for that period and were shocked to hear the announcement four months earlier.

So many arguments came against the policy; there were no safety nets on ground and government was expecting people who were already ravaged by endemic poverty to pay more for fuel when government officials were busy smiling to the bank for doing nothing and the people were simply looking to the sky for manna to fall.

The fact that power generation was epileptic all over the country made the people more reliant on fuel for their daily activities than necessary. The fact that there was no efficient railway mode of transport for goods and people made fuel more crucial to the day to day activities of the average Nigerian by then. The fact that there was no effective public mass transit system across the country made Nigerians spend a lot to get to their places of work and other places. Hence, most Nigerians, organized labour and public commentators agreed that the decision to jerk up the price of fuel was a reckless one by government. 

The rejection was total, the strike was immense and while the protests were unprecedented. The goodwill of the President hit an all-time low. It was bad decision, taken and implemented at bad time.          

All attempts to justify the decision by the consistent campaign of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and Labaran Maku fell on deaf ears. Nigerians only got angrier each time these people appear on television to defend the policy.       As an after-thought, government agreed to reduce the basic salaries of political appointees by 25 percent, put together some palliative buses for the masses and establish SURE-P. All these were promised as part of measures to douse tension and make civil servants go back to work and they provided the basis for the negotiation they had with Organised Labour which got the fuel price reduced to N97.

The palliative buses

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga while launching the buses in Abuja said part the goal of the Federal Government mass transit program was to bring down the bus fare by twenty percent.

 ”The beauty of it is that we have tried to provide buses that are 26-seater and above. So, you have 26-seater, 50-seaters and above. Most of them are diesel-powered. And the whole idea of providing buses that are 26-seaters and above is because of what Mr. President want to achieve. The whole idea is to develop a robust, sustainable program for the entire country.  

 He had said: “The way we have approached it is that it is not only for Abuja. It is for the whole country. It is a mass transit program for the country. And the plan is this. The revolving loan was launched in 2010 and with that we bought about 1600 buses. Now (it is) revolving loan because we want it to be a sustainable program. So, what we do is, it  should be run by the private sector. It is not the government that runs the buses. The private sector will run the buses. They will manage it like a business. We will provide loans to them at a very cheap rate to make it easier for Nigerians who are going to be using the buses so that you will pay far less than what you are paying. So, if they had gone to the banks, they will borrow this money at 20% interest rate. We gave then the ones which we did in August last in 2010 at 5% interest rate. The ones which we have just given them now for all these buses you have seen are at 0% interest rate. So government is providing that subsidy for passengers to go in to the buses. Okay, and then we have gone further to negotiate with all the bus manufactures to make sure that the parts are available. That will reduce the cost of maintenance. Again that will bring down the cost of transportation. So, we’ve worked with transporters to make it cheaper for Nigerians in terms of providing them with mass transit. What we did last week was to acquire another 1200 buses. That will be distributed across.”

 Aganga had added: “We are looking at areas where we have the pressure points, where you have large passengers, and the different state governments will tell us which routes they should ply because it shouldn’t be run by the Federal Government. It should be run by state governments. So, Abuja for example, the secretary of transport here will help direct the sort of route they should be plying. But going forward in the next two/three months, the idea is to work with the state governments and then accelerate things so that we have far more buses around, and then we have license routes for each one of them.”

Contrary to what the minister said above, the subsidy buses exist basically in Abuja. Even in Abuja, the services were only effective for a few weeks after the celebrated launching.

Our correspondents who checked round the capital city discovered that the buses were hardly available for commuters who are still paying exorbitant prices being charged by commercial vehicles after the fuel price increment.   

Passengers who insist on boarding the scarce subsidy buses have to stand for many hours at the bus stop and when they eventually come around, the few buses can’t even convey half of the people waiting to their destinations.

Operators of the palliative buses have also joined commercial operators in extorting people. Instead of N50, they now charge N100 and where they used to charge N100, they now collect N150.

The bottom-line is that there is no difference in what people are paying now and what they started paying immediately after the subsidy withdrawal. Most people now prefer to go with the normal commercial vehicles rather than wait for the palliative buses which offer no palliatives at all.

While Abuja residents can still see the buses and have access to them on occasions, Nigerians who reside outside the FCT have no similar story to tell. This is despite the fact that the partial subsidy removal affected all Nigerians across the country.

According to findings by our correspondent, Kaduna state is yet to benefit from Federal Government’s palliative buses. Officials at the Ministry of Works and Transport who confirmed this noted however that state government on its part recently procured a total of 50 buses comprising 14-seaters and luxurious buses. The buses have since been deployed to the roads through the Kaduna State Transport Authority (KSTA). 

   According to our reporter, there is no trace of any Federal Government Fuel subsidy mass transit bus anywhere in Benue state at all.

 Sometime ago, the General Manager of the state transport outfit known as Benue Links, Mr. John Baka who regretted the delay in provision of the palliative buses by the Federal Government, intimated that the company had gone ahead to acquire over 16 new Marcopolo buses worth over N108 million from a loan secured from Unity bank. 

He added that they made request from the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment for 20 Marcopolo buses, 10 city buses and 10 Toyota coastal buses.

The Federal Government subsidy buses are also unavailable in Niger state. According to our reporter, the state government mass transit scheme is however working. 

No fewer than 200 units of commercial vehicles were purchased and distributed to National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and other transport unions by the Niger state government recently.

 The state commissioner for transport, Mallam Garba Abubakar who made this known in an interview said the state government purchased 100 Nissan Urban 15-seater buses and 100 unit of Renault Logan Station Wagon at the cost of N900million which was distributed to NURTW and other transport unions.  

  About seven Federal Government palliative buses allocated to Ilorin, the Kwara state capital disappeared from the road a couple of months ago. Investigation by our correspondent showed that the transport company, Safe Tripe which was in charge of the buses stationed to ply University of Ilorin permanent site, Kwara Polytechnic and University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) have been taken to Lagos state because of low patronage by students who were on holiday when the scheme started.

  Sources at the Kwara state Polytechnic bus stop, Muritala added that the loan collected before securing the buses was too much for a private operator to just be waiting while there was no business on ground, stressing that only old buses plying the tertiary institution routs were still available.

 The situation is the same in Bauchi as passengers hardly see the buses on the streets.

The General Manager of Yankari Transport Corporation, Alhaji Yahaya Tanimu said: “We did not receive any of the palliative buses in this company, NURTW members brought in two to the Transport Corporation but for some reasons, they took them back to Abuja.

 The Chairman, Bauchi state chapter of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Suleiman A Abubakar said, “we acquired two of the buses here in Bauchi state but we found it difficult to manage because travellers are not used to those big buses. We were just operating at a loss. That was why we returned them to Abuja.

  A civil servant who preferred anonymity said, “I am really surprised because government promised to bring buses for us but since then I haven’t seen any. Some people said they have seen one but I have not seen the hundreds they said were launched. Where are the buses, where are they keeping them?” 

A lady Rachael Bala said “it is a good thing if they keep to their promise. Though I have never seen any of those buses in Bauchi here, my friend who lives in Abuja told me their fares are lower than that those charged by the painted vehicles. 

 ”I don’t think they are serious about these palliative buses. It is a bunch of lies. In fact, it is a joke as I have seen about two of these buses in Bauchi state and   the vehicles look like they are really used ones.” 

 According to our correspondent, Nasarawa state is yet to benefit from the Federal Government palliative buses.

Confirming this to Peoples Daily Weekend, state commissioner for works and transport, Engr. Mohammed Wada Yahaya, said the state has not received a single bus as palliatives from the Federal Government. 

He stated that it was the state government that purchased 40 buses which are currently plying the road under the Nasarawa Transport Company.

Commenting on the issue, a public transporter, Alhaji Mohammadu Zakari Andaha, dismissed the initiative by the federal government, to supposedly cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy on commuters, as a “ruse, a calculated attempt to hoodwink the people.” 

He observed that the programme was a failure even before it came to limelight, describing the attitude of the Federal Government as being deceptive. 

“There was no initial plan to supply those buses, it was rather an after thought,” he opined.

 According to our correspondent in Kano, not much has been heard about the over one thousand Federal government busses that were purchased from proceeds of the oil subsidy.

  Many transporters and passengers are ignorant of the Federal Government gesture, because they cannot find the vehicles in question either in the motor park or on the roads.

Alhaji Aminu Isa is major transporter in Naibawa Motor Park, he said as far as he was concerned, he has never set his eyes on any of the said vehicles in the state.

“I have to be honest with you, I have not seen any of the vehicles, but is possible they are there, but for me I don’t want to talk about what I have not seen. And even if they are there, the truth remains that we are talking about 1600 vehicles or so distributed across the 36 states and Abuja are they enough to alleviate the problem of transportation problem of Nigerians? Certainly no, so I don’t think the government is even serious in the first place,” he stated. 

For many passengers interviewed by our correspondent, the issue sounded strange to them, they claimed ignorance of the Federal Government policy, maintaining that they have not seen any of the vehicles as well.

Garba maina who was on his way to Abuja at the Naibawa motor park said as far as he was concerned, the policy remained a fraud and one of the many policies that never see the light of the day.

“Look I don’t even believe in the whole issue, you are in the park now, can you see anything like that? I have been to Unguwa Uku Motor Park is the same thing. Don’t mind the government, they are not serious. They are only trying to deceive Nigerians nothing more.”

However, Emmanuel Mike said he was into transportation and confirmed seeing the vehicles on the road. He revealed that the Federal Government handed over the vehicles to the National Association of Road Transport Workers and National Association of Road Transport Owners. 

“I’m aware that the Unions were saddled with the responsibility of taking care of the interest free vehicles by the Federal Government to distribute to some persons who are into the transport business. I think here in Kano, our own share is about 44 or so, I want to correct the impression that the vehicle were given to state government to manage but instead is the union that is saddled with the responsibility.”

The situation is the same in Sokoto. The General Manager of Sokoto Transport Company (SSTC), Abdulkadir Ahmad Mohammed gave reasons for the absence of the buses on the streets of Sokoto: “There are so many issues attached to that loan. Of course when we go by the cost charges of even administrating the buses, actually is not something economical that we can tolerate. Secondly, we realize that it is even better for us to go in the open market and acquire those buses than the Federal Government Assisted Mass Transit Buses.  And in addition, I can tell you many of these buses are not in conformity with what we actually require. While we always require 18 or 14-seater buses, what they have is beyond that capacity.”  

 Efforts to get the reaction of Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga to the issues raised proved unsuccessful yesterday as he was said to have just returned from an official trip abroad. 

Culled from People’s Daily