Emmanuel Ugwu
8 November 2008
Umuahia — After many years absence of branded taxi cabs in Umuahia, the state governor, Chief Theodore Orji, has flagged off the Abia State City Transport Scheme, releasing into the capital city 200 brand new Peugeot 307 cars and 300 buses all gleaming in yellow.
Performing the inauguration ceremony at Okigwe Motor Park located on Mission Hill Umuahia, Orji noted that the absence of taxis and the predominance of okada (commercial motorcycles) as the major means of moving around the state capital was an "anomaly" that needed to be rectified.
"It bothers me each time I have guests and they tell me they had to take a commercial motorcycle because there was no other means of transportation in Umuahia," he said, adding that it was the embarrassing situation that made him resolve to put Umuahia in the "big league" of state capitals with befitting transport system.
The transport scheme also covers Aba, the commercial and industrial city, which has allocation of 700 vehicles comprising 300 taxi cabs and 400 buses.
The governor said his administration has remained committed to the transformation of Umuahia to have a proper status of capital city through road rehabilitation, redesigning and re-modeling of monuments and installation of streetlights.
He explained that the transport scheme was being managed in conjunction with transport unions and the participating bank, First Bank Plc, under the supervision of the state ministry of works and transport, adding that they would together work out the details of ownership and repayment.
"The idea is that we do not want this scheme to be a political tool. We are not using it to favour any a particular group of people. It is open to all Abians, who meet the prerequisite conditions for ownership," he said.
Earlier in his remarks the state commissioner for works and transport, Prince Paul Ikonne, said that aside from providing means of transport in the city the scheme would also serve as a tool for poverty alleviation.
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