Modern Taxis For Mega City

With the deployment of 250 new air-conditioned taxi cabs to ply roads in the Lagos State metropolis, the dream of Lagos, southwest Nigeria becoming a mega city by 2015 moves up another notch.  The old cabs are gradually being phased out and replaced with modern cabs

The cars were recently presented to beneficiaries, who given three years period to pay back. And then the vehicles become theirs under the second phase of the Lagos State Government’s Yellow Mega-City Taxi Scheme coordinated by the State’s Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, WAPA.

The first phase of the scheme was launched in 2009 with 250 brand new vehicles. In 2009, the state government, through the Lagos State Micro-Finance Institution, LASMI, disbursed N50 million as equity contribution to the Lagos State Chapter of the Taxi Drivers and Cab Operators Association, LSTDCOA and as equity contribution to guarantee a loan of N500 million to acquire 250 units of brand new vehicles for use as taxi cabs by members of the association within Lagos State.

In the second phase, LASMI financed the purchase of 100 of the 250 vehicles by providing N265 million while First Bank of Nigeria PLC financed 80 per cent of the cost of the remaining 150 vehicles.  The balance of 20 per cent of the cost was provided by LASMI as equity contribution and loan guarantee deposit for the taxi drivers.

The scheme is operated as an owner-driver scheme, thus directly and positively affecting the living standards of members of the taxi cabs association.  As owners of their vehicles, members of the association have been delivered from the clutches of perpetual poverty.

Under the scheme, a beneficiary is expected to deliver N5,000 daily through the association to government’s designated account for this purpose so that the partners in the project could recoup their money plus interest for a duration of three years.

Hundreds of beneficiaries gathered at the State House, Ikeja recently for the official handing over of the vehicles. Many of the new vehicles are already plying highways in the metropolis.

According to Governor Babatunde Fashola, the launch of the modern cabs was part of the process to phase out the old and rickety taxi cabs on Lagos highways in the metropolis, and introduce taxis that befit the new status of Lagos as a mega city.

The governor congratulated the 250 lucky beneficiaries of the scheme saying that: “From today, you will be delivering to yourselves and not to anybody again. You are now The-Owner.

“Besides alleviating poverty through this scheme, we are equally changing the face of taxi cabs available on Lagos roads through the injection of fully air-conditioned brand new taxi cabs on Lagos roads. It is part of our government’s plan to phase out all rickety taxi cabs from Lagos roads in line with our plan to transform Lagos into a mega-city.”

Fashola, who was represented by his deputy, Sarah Sosan, said that for those wishing to register for the scheme, all they need do is go through the LSTDCOA with a deposit of N250,000 to brand the taxi cab and pay for comprehensive insurance cover, adding that the repayment conditions have been made easy.

Fashola advised them to be vigilant and observant of the people they pick, especially from the entry points of the state adding that “in most developed and advanced countries of the world, their taxi system is part of their security system.”

Commissioner for Transportation, Professor Bamidele Badejo, said the vision of the present administration was to bequeath a vibrant, safe, attractive and viable transportation system that would act as catalyst to the socio-economic transformation of the state.

“Lagos State, being the most populous state and the hub of the Nigerian economy, has enormous transportation challenges necessitating the development of various strategies, policies and programmes to address the realities and transportation challenges.

“These policies and programmes include the Modern Taxi Scheme whose objectives are to develop a taxi operation of international status to be operated by private/corporate organisations, associations, cooperatives and allied unions while providing a more secure taxi operation that will enhance the confidence of the citizenry and users and most importantly provide more jobs in the transportation sector in a more formal manner and environmental friendly atmosphere,” he said.

The commissioner warned that the government would view with serious concern any deviation from the guidelines for the operation of the scheme and implored the operators to obey all existing traffic rules and regulations.

President, LSTDCOA, Alhaji Lateef Oseni pledged that his association would continue to fulfil its obligations to government as regards the scheme, adding that the vehicles would be deployed to serve the purpose for which they were purchased.

“Having seen the positive steps of this administration as responsible and responsive corporate citizens, we promise to reciprocate the gesture. We shall not let this administration down,” he stated.

He added that the association, in order to complement the efforts of the government, set up a taskforce to ensure that members strictly comply with the rules of the body and traffic regulations.

“The taskforce also has the duty to ensure that only registered members operate the yellow cab, but we need the backing of the Ministry of Transportation and all security agencies and other relevant parastatals to be able to effectively carry out these functions,” he said.

Oseni stated that before the coming on board of the Fashola administration, the facilities used in the transportation sector of the economy were obsolete and fell short of the minimum standard, stressing that in line with the Lagos mega city project, there was a need to upgrade the facilities to acceptable standard.

According to WAPA Commissioner, Mrs. Joke Orelope-Adefulire, the scheme is one of the many products of the poverty alleviation strategies of the present administration. She described poverty as the greatest threat to human existence.

“Based on this consideration, we set out to execute policies that are capable of alleviating poverty and thereby reducing to the barest minimum all its debilitating effects such as crimes and social violence, especially domestic violence,” she explained.

Orelope-Adefulire stated that the scheme was a means to an end towards achieving sustainable economic growth and development through a modernized transport system, job creation and encouragement of public-private partnership.

“The scheme has also satisfied the 8th Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, which requires nations of the world to develop Global Partnership for Development. With the acquisition of these vehicles, rickety yellow taxis are already endangered species on Lagos roads, thus, fast tracking the achievement of the Lagos model mega city of our collective dream,” she said.

Advising the beneficiaries to keep to the terms of the agreement in the scheme, she urged the beneficiaries to “comply with road traffic regulations, drive safely and take good care of their new assets, especially as these are their means of livelihood.”

One of the beneficiaries, Mr. Adesina Fajobi said the scheme had impacted positively on the lives of members of the taxi cabs association since the inception of the programme, adding that the payment period given to them was three years and that N5,000 was expected to be remitted by each beneficiary on a daily basis.

“It is a good programme. The payment period is three years and after that, we become the owners of the vehicles.  Before, we used to used old Volkswagen Golf and Passat cars for our business but now we use air-conditioned vehicles. There is also a tracking device in the vehicle to serve as security,” he stated.

Another beneficiary, Mojeed Olapade commended the state government for the gesture, saying that they used to route their daily contribution of N5,000 through their association to the government.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga

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