BY CALEB AYANSINA

MINISTER of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, says N25 billion has been set aside by the Federal Government as revolving loan for transporters across the country to buy buses under the Mass Transit Project.

Also, the Director General of National Automotive Council, Engr. Aminu Jalal, said  they had eight  manufacturers to produce of 250 buses each  per year, to complement government efforts on effective transport system in Nigeria.

Aganga, who is the Chairman of the Technical Implementation Committee on Mass Transit Programme, stated this at a workshop on mass transit framework, roadmap and financing options in Abuja. According to him, government is not going to run the buses, but to provide the enabling environment and the regulatory framework for private sector to operate.

“We started the mass transit revolving loan with N10 billion. This year we have added another N15 billion which is about N25 billion. This is the fund available to transporters to buy their buses, but they will repay back the loan since it is a revolving loan so that we can keep on recycling at least for now.

“But the most important thing is that we are prioritizing, buying those buses from local manufacturers. As a  result of that, we shall see more bus manufacturers now establishing in Nigeria and seeing the current  ones employing more people. That is the way we want to move forward.”

He added that state government and the private sector have a strong role to play, saying that  is why the federal government considered them as strong partners to make transport more affordable and to create job opportunities through the involvement of local bus manufacturers.

Also speaking at the workshop, Jalal said the National Automatic Council  had  discussed with the  Infrastructure Bank on the aspect of financing mass transit programme, but each state analysis will determine the level of  finance.

The DG  noted that the 250 buses each per year to be produced by eight manufacturers will  complement the government efforts on mass transit.

“Local manufacturers association is prepared to provide all the buses needed. We have about eight   manufacturers now with installed capacity of 50,000 per year. Currently, they are doing 2,000 buses per year because of  lack of demand; if there is increase in demand, they can scale up their production. They can produce the buses we need but they need to gather more time, they have to put more people and train them”.