2nd November, 2022
Management of the Adamawa Sunshine Transport Board (ASSTB) has called on the federal government to declare an emergency in the road transport sector of the nation.
Muhammed Tukur -Abbo, the board’s General Manager gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola on Wednesday.
He said the call became necessary, considering that about 85 per cent of Nigerians use roads to transport themselves from one place to another.
According to him, “Nigerians are more of using vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles and other related means of transportation to travel and in the movement of goods and services”.
He lamented that a reasonable percentage of existing federal and state roads in some parts of the country was in bad shape crying for rehabilitation or total reconstruction.
He, however, lauded the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in rejuvenating the rail transport sector through the construction of many Kilometres of rail lines and the procurement of sophisticated trains.
He noted with dismay the current price of fuel, especially diesel which, he said, has made maintenance and road transportation activities difficult, especially transportation of spare parts and other essential consumables within the country.
The transport manager sought for Federal Government’s intervention as it did in the aviation industry, by reintroducing a mass transit system and palliative measures to cushion the hardship being experienced by passengers.
He lauded the efforts of Gov Ahmadu Fintiri for constructing and rehabilitating numerous roads connecting urban and rural communities in the state.