Reps set to probe disappearance of transit buses in FCT

The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the alleged disappearance of transit busses provided by the Federal Government for transport service within the FCT.

This followed the adoption of a motion by Rep. Ikenna Elezieanya (PDP Imo) at the plenary on Tuesday in Abuja.

Moving the motion, 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.

He added that the provision of the buses were designed to ease the commuting challenges of civil and public servants to and from their offices to ensure effective discharge of their duties.

He said that between 2003 and 2007, 5,000 buses were provided by the FG to assist and complement the efforts of government workers in accessing their various offices within the FCT.

He said that between 2010 and 2014, the FG, in a bid to effectively improve on public service delivery in line with global best practices, provided an additional 5,000 buses for the transportation of civil servants.

He expressed concern that all the buses, amounting to 10,000, provided by the government were gradually disappearing from the roads and were not being effectively managed by the FCT administration.

He added that this had led to the scheme not achieving its core objective, which was alleviating the transport challenges of the masses, especially in these trying times.

He said that the citizens who were denied these services were daily faced with the risk of riding in commercial vehicles operated by kidnappers, armed robbers and bandits.

He said that there was need to recover the buses and make them operational to serve the core objectives for which they were provided.

The house, therefore, mandated the Committee on FCT to investigate the alleged disappearance of the transit buses and report back within three weeks for further legislative action. Punch