Business
Bank MD Assures Purposeful Use Of Transit Buses
The Managing Director of Infrastructure Bank, Mr Adekunle Oyinloye, has said that buses acquired under the Federal Government’s Mass Transit Fund scheme are to be used strictly for mass transit purposes.
Referring to the launch of the transport service of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) which unveiled 150 buses for its service in Lagos, Oyinloye said that the total amount of N25 billion for the scheme, was a revolving loan.
TUC secured N2.5 billion out of the loan, repayable over five years.
In the statement, the managing director stated that as fund managers, the Infrastructure Bank had the responsibility to on-lend the fund to eligible transporters across the six geo-political zones of the country.
Such will be done in a sustainable manner that will meet the development goals of the Federal Government for the transportation sector.
Oyinloye said that the bank would also ensure that applicants for the scheme were capable of deploying the buses effectively and efficiently to guarantee loan repayment, as well as to assist them in building managerial capacity.
He explained that the bank had also evolved stringent monitoring mechanisms for efficient utilisation of the buses to ensure the success of the scheme.
“It is a must for the beneficiaries of the scheme to ensure routine and timely maintenance of the buses through accredited suppliers and service centres across the country,” Oyinloye said.
He lauded the Federal Government for “its visionary intelligence’’ in creating the scheme which, he said, “has become a testament to government’s desire to better the lives of Nigerians’’.
Oyinloye also thanked the Lagos State government for putting in place the necessary infrastructure and regulatory framework which, he noted, were now attracting private sector investment to the transport sector.
He commended the initiative of TUC to incorporate a company for its transport project, noting that the achievement testified to the great things that could happen when good leadership combined with opportunity.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Chukwuemeka Wogu, had said on the occasion that the Federal Government would invest more in the marine and rail transportation sectors as soon as the national transportation policy was effected.