Reps Probe 10,000 Mass Transit Buses’ Disappearance In FCT

THE House of Representatives, at the plenary on Tuesday, mandated its Committee on Federal Capital Territory to “investigate the alleged disappearance of 10,000 transit buses provided by the Federal Government for transport services within the FCT metropolis and to recover them.”

The committee will report back to the House within three weeks for further legislative actions.

A member of the House, Ikenna Elezieanya, from Owerri Federal Constituency, had moved a motion titled ‘Need to investigate the alleged disappearance of the transit buses provided by the Federal Government for transport services within the Federal Capital Territory,’ which the lawmakers unanimously adopted.

Elezieanya noted that the provision of long buses in Abuja, apart from creating jobs and generating revenue, was targeted towards alleviating the sufferings of the citizens, as the programme 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.

“Between 2010 and 2014, the Federal Government, in a bid to effectively improve public service delivery in line with global best practices, provided an additional 5,000 buses for the transportation of civil servants.

“The House is concerned that all the buses, amounting to 10,000, provided by the government, are gradually disappearing from the roads and are not being effectively managed by the FCT administration, and as such, not achieving its core objective, which is alleviating the transport challenges of the masses, especially in these trying times.

“The House is also concerned that the citizens who are denied these services are daily faced with the risk of riding in commercial vehicles operated by kidnappers, armed robbers, and bandits.”

Elezieanya stressed the need to recover the buses and make them operational to serve the core objectives they were provided.