The Bayelsa state Government has handed over 103 taxis and three buses to the General Manager of state transport company, Mr. Ebitimi Fanama and its deputy Etebu Amakiri, to alleviate fuel subsidy sufferings
Speaking on Wednesday at the Banquet hall in Yenagoa during the handover, the Governor, Senator Douye Diri said that, the vehicles will be managed by Bayelsa brothers, and will be given out to Bayelsans, they will be remitting monthly average of 35 million naira from the 106 vehicles
Gov Diri said, the prosperity government was doing this to empower the youths of the state and to cushion the negative effects of fuel subsidy removal, emphasized that the ban on Tricycles from 7pm still stands, and that the newly launched vehicles will solve the problems witnessed before now.
Diri said” This has been ongoing for quite sometime now from the purchase of the vehicles to the planning of how these vehicles should be used. And how our people will benefit from them.
“We would have launched these vehicles some three, four months ago but because God knew that a time like this will come, we will continue to have a very good planning of the use of these vehicles. And I’m happy that we are doing this at God’s time today.
“You will remember that we completed that transport terminal which was started by the immediate past government, not only have we completed it, we have also commissioned that terminal, we also want to put that terminal into use.
“We have seen how previous scheme failed us. We have seen how previous schemes have been converted to private vehicles rather than vehicles that will support the public. This scheme is totally different from all other previous schemes.
“Government is not paying salaries to the drivers. Please I want you to note that. It is the company that will negotiate that with you not Bayelsa state government. Those are the innovation that we have brought in. There will be no salary for the managers of the Bayelsa state transport company from the moment you start managing this vehicles.
We want to see how we can run this thing, how other states are running it and some other private individuals are running it.
” I believe with turn over, these vehicles will be able to replace itself. We will continue to have more vehicles and we will continue to have more drivers to be engaged.
“Over 100 Bayelsa drivers will be engaged. For now the vehicles will be intra-city and intra-state. We are not going interstate for now. While maximising profit, we must also set a target on the welfare of our people because government is involved.
“Charges will be considered to the extent that you make your own profit, but you must also have it at the back of your mind that our people have to be serviced.
‘For those of us who have been crying about the ban of tricycles in the night, the ban of tricycles in the night continues, now we have taxis that will be running within the streets of Yenagoa and beyond. We appreciate all Bayelsans for your patience because you know that your government has your welfare at heart.
“And today has come to mark the end of what we have been suffering by virtue of the ban of tricycles in the night. And by virtue of the new policies that has led to the increase in transportation fares and the multiply effects. This will now be our own palliative for now for the land sector.
“We have started with the land and in no distant date from now, we will also touch our maritime domain. Our people especially in local government areas that we cannot assess by land are the most affected.
“We are working on something and we believe that with the current subsidy removal, those monies should actually come to the federation account and they should not be decided only in Abuja.
” And if all of those monies are shared within the federating units and we have our own share with what we are also planning, I’m very sure that our maritime sector will also be affected the way land transport has been affected.
“And that is why we have told the federal government to think about boat for the riverine communities and I’m sure that the federal government will listen to the plea. I believe that this will be a new beginning in the transportation sector.
” For the drivers, we want you to do well and if you do so by paying what the company wants you to pay, they also have the responsible to pay to the state government So that by the time we do three years, we are buying more taxis. It is also an avenue for us to engage our youths professionally. This is how to encourage our youth When we talk about youth empowerment, these are the ways we want to empower our youths.”
Earlier, the commissioner for transport, Mrs Grace Ekiotenne in her remarks that thanked the prosperity government for coming up with the transport scheme to cushion the effect of sudsidy removal affecting the people of the state especially the transportation sector.
She said the vehicles will be managed by Bayelsa brothers adding that the vehicles will be given out to Bayelsans and they will be remitting monthly average of 35 million naira from the 106 vehicles.
She said that at the end of six months, they will be having 210 million naira and for a period of six years, about 2 billion and some fractions will be realized.
Nigerian Pilot report that, the General Manager of Bayelsa state transport company, Mr. Ebitimi Fanama doubles as CEO De Prize motors and its deputy Etebu Amakiri owns Amaxi Express motors.
