The Federal Government, through the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGi), has donated four 50-seater hybrid buses to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), through the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
The Chief Executive Officer and Programme Director of the PCNGi, Mr Michael Oluwagbemi, who made the donation at the minister’s office on Thursday, said the President was committed to seeing Nigerians moving around cheaper, safer and reliable.
Oluwagbemi hailed the FCT minister as one of the biggest supporters of the CNG initiative, adding that the donated buses will serve as ‘foundation asset’ for the operation of the new terminals in the city.
‘Naturally we looked around and our Federal Capital Territory, having demonstrated great support for this programme, having shown great innovation itself by investing not just in the roads, but bus terminals under the leadership of the minister, popularly known as Mr Project and the Transport Mandate Secretary who provided the support and the team at FCT, we felt that the FCT should be a major beneficiary of this.
‘I look forward to the next two to three years, to an FCT where I will decide, despite the fact that I own numerous vehicles, to leave my vehicle at home and to take one of these buses to town and go to places and work, as is done in other developed countries.
‘So, we want to thank you. This is a Presidential initiative, Mr President wants to see Nigerians move around cheaper, safer and reliable.
‘On behalf of the board of the PCNGi and the Management and Staff of the Presidential CNG Initiative, I hand over the keys of these four CNG hybrid buses to you the glory of God, to the service of humanity and for the employment of the people of the FCT’, he said.
Receiving the keys on behalf of the FCT minister, the Mandate Secretary, Transport Secretariat, Chinedu Elechi, thanked the President for the donations, noting that the buses will complement the transportation infrastructure efforts of the FCT Minister.
‘So, public transportation is meant to move people from one point to the other, especially those who cannot afford private transportation, or those who can afford private transportation but opt to go on the public system.
‘This is why the minister has built roads, bridges, and is now building bus terminals. We have just commissioned two of the modern bus terminals at Mabushi and Kugbo.
‘These buses, as good as they look, will be very helpful. We are going to get more buses; the minister is already working on that, and we thank you so very much for this.
‘So, on behalf of the minister and the FCTA, we want to thank you, and we say that you should extend our gratitude to Mr President, whose initiative this is, and you too for your hard work’, Elechi said.
