NITT, firm partner to improve transport system

• To float 15,000 luxury buses

Director-General/Chief Executive of the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria, Kaduna State, Dr. Bayero Farah, has said that the institute is ready to work with ABG Nationwide Unity Transport Company to improve road transport system in the country.

The partnership, which involves the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), is expected to create 250,000 jobs through Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

About 15,000 luxury buses will be deployed for the project.Farah disclosed this during a meeting with the Chairman of ABG, Alhaji Bawa Garba, and the management team of NITT, who were at the institute to advance talks on the proposal.He said it was incumbent on NITT to transform all areas of transport in Nigeria in line with its mandate.

The challenge of finding the right kind of partnerships, he added, had been preventing the institute from exploiting the benefits PPP offers.

His words: “We are happy to have ABG as partner. We have the capacity and expertise to make this project a reality. Nigeria has the market to accommodate 15,000 vehicles.”

On the viability of the venture, the DG said: “A large number of Nigerians depend on public transportation, especially by road. Hence, mobility will improve for Nigerians when this scheme becomes a reality.”

Earlier, Garba had described NITT as a giant his company would be proud to partner with. He asserted that “transport is one of the most important sectors of the economy,” adding that his company would take advantage of NITT’s capacity, expertise and experience to float the transportation system.

The business mogul said that he would leverage on his cordial relationship with Brazilian bus manufacturers to float over 15,000 buses capable of creating 250,000 direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians. He disclosed that the 15,000 buses would be imported within three years, with an average of 6,000 buses yearly.

The Guardian gathered that the fleet of buses would be operated on driver-ownership basis, thus lifting people out of poverty.

“We are going to make so many people rich. For every successful inter-state trip, the driver gets N5,000 bonus,” he promised.
Drivers running within cities must pay up in three years, while those on inter-state transport have five years repayment period to own the bus they drive, he added.