Transportation In Nigeria, Very Chaotic – Uhunmwagho

Engineer Isaac Uhunmwagho, Chairman Planning Committee of the newly inaugurated Public Transport Owners of Nigeria Association (PTONA), in a chat with Saturday INDEPENDENT said that transportation in Nigeria is very chaotic and a collaboration between the government and transport owners will drastically put an end to the currently existing dysfunctional system.

He said this at the inaugural Annual General Meeting of PTONA, which took place at the King Celia Hotel & Suites, Yaba, Lagos on Thursday, March 14.

Among personalities in attendance were Dr. Bawa-Allah, the Keynote Speaker, who urged the body to look into diversifying into other areas such as airways and waterways.
 

Also in attendance was the Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Ahmed Alli (rtd), who in a speech read by Deputy Comptroller Samuel Arowojobe, urged the body to keep an eagle eye on those that would want to use them to transport contraband. He charged PTONA to ensure intelligent data gathering on their passengers.

According to Uhunmwagho, who is also the chairman of Efex Executive Ltd, “transportation in Nigeria is very chaotic; extremely chaotic, Lagos is an example.”

Going further, he stressed the need for the coalition. “All of us who have been in transportation for a number of years can now pull our strength together and have one organ that will work to further enhance and promote transportation business not just for us who are transport owners but for the people that we serve.

“We have limitations because we are little forces by ourselves. With us being one and being a strong force, we will be able to operate our businesses much better, and who will benefit? Our customers will be able to get better services from us.

“Order, sanity, discipline can be achieved when government works in collaboration with the people. Instead of dealing with single transport owners, dealing with corporate outfits like PTONA ensures that the standards are set. When the transport owners sit down with state governors and federal government, you will find that solutions will be found and the passengers, the commuters will be better off. That is the whole objective.”

Prior to now, interstate transport owners functioned independently or as smaller associations. But these group of small associations formed a coalition and became one under the umbrella they termed Public Transport Owners Of Nigeria Association (PTONA)

Also speaking at the event was Prince Emeka Mamah, Ifesinachi Transport Owners and the outgoing coalition chairman. He urged the government to reduce tax and tariff on luxury buses for the benefit of long distance travelers. “There are many things we want the government to do for us. We want its support like security on our roads and also reduction in the import duties for our buses. “The import duty on the buses is on the high side. We want the government to look into this and possibly reduce the cost of transportation in Nigeria. “We are looking forward to expanding our horizon to accommodate other forms of transportation such as airways and waterways.

On the successful take-off of the association, Mamah said, “It started like something that would not succeed, and as you can see, so many are interested, and I believe that as time goes on we will have other associations coming to join us.”





INDEPENDENT