The House of Representatives on Tuesday mandated its Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to investigate the alleged disappearance of 10,000 transit buses provided by the federal government for transport services within the nation’s capital with the view to recovering them and report back within three weeks.
This followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Rep Ikenna Elezieanya (Imo, PDP).
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Elezieanya noted that the provision of long buses in Abuja, apart from creating jobs and generating revenue, was targeted at alleviating the sufferings of the citizens as it was designed to ease the commuting challenges of civil and public servants to and from their offices to ensure effective discharge of their duties.
The lawmaker said between 2003 and 2007, 5,000 buses were provided by the government to assist and complement the efforts of government workers in accessing their various offices within the Federal Capital Territory.
He further informed the House that between 2010 and 2014, the Federal Government, in a bid to effectively improve public service delivery in line with global best practices also provided an additional 5,000 buses for the transportation of civil servants bringing to a total of 10,000.
He however expressed concerns that all the buses provided by the government are gradually disappearing from the roads, adding that they are not being effectively managed by the FCT administration and as such, not achieving its core objective of alleviating the transport challenges of the masses, “especially in these trying times.”
The lawmaker also said citizens who are denied these services are daily faced with the risk of riding in commercial vehicles which are often operated by kidnappers, armed robbers and bandits.
