Actionaid Faults New FCTA Transport Policy

 Actionaid Nigeria (AAN) has faulted the new transport policy of the Federal Capital Territory Administration saying in a bit to regulate transportation in Abuja, they have succeeded in creating a crises.

Green buses popularly referred to as 'Araba' had been restricted from entering the city centre since June 3, by FCT authorities who are insisting they want to regulate transportation in the city centre.



A situation that has brought untold hardship on commuters who have had to pay more to get to their places of work.

In an exclusive chat with FrontiersNews in Abuja, Policy and Campaign Coordinator, Actionaid Nigeria, Mr. Tunde Aremu noted that the situation would further compounded the unemployment crisis as many more people will be thrown out of jobs.

"In their attempt at putting in place a new policy transportation system, they are creating a crisis. They are throwing people out of job. Everytime you have a bus, you are likely to have 2-3 drivers driving one bus and at least 2 conductors. That means that you are going to have a lot of agile people who are highly energised, highly restless unemployed, which means we are running the risk of having more crime."

Mr. Aremu argued the FCT authorities failed to do their homework properly before foisting the policy on residents.

"We have no problem with regulation, we have no problem with making our environment safer, but you must think of the implication for businesses and we must think of the implication for emergency and health and even security. These are challenges the FCT administration has not taken consideration of," he said.

He noted therefore that to make the policy more effective, there is need to bring "the traders, market people, workers that use those transport system, the transporters themselves and representatives of different bodies" to the discussion table as majority of those that work in the FCT don't live in the city.

He added that the implication of FCTA's decision is that they have shut out competition from the transportation business in Abuja.

"What they have also done is to a cult of transporters because they have limited the space, they have hijacked that sector for a group of 3or4. What we need is better regulation of the transport system and not create a cult.

"Government did not conduct the transaction with openness. Nobody can talk about how transporters came about getting the concessions to operate apart from the government officials who granted them the concessions," he concluded.