Skip to main content

Restriction: LAGBUS Franchisee begs Ambode to save their investment


LAGBUS Franchisee Forum, operators of high-capacity red buses in Lagos on Monday appealed to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to save their investment from ruin following government’s prohibition of their services on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor.

The chairman of the forum, Mr Role Odukale, made the appeal at a news conference in Lagos.

Odukale, who spoke on behalf the 17 operators of LAGBUS franchisee, said the development would not only kill their business, but also bring hardship to residents of the state.

“For us, it is the people that will suffer as evident today across bus stops in Lagos. This situation will add to our woes, we will not be able to meet up with our bank obligations because we borrowed money from banks.

“What this means is that few buses will be available to serve over 20 million residents of the state. It is important to know that about 5, 000 people we engage in our services will lose their jobs. This directive should be reversed.

“The step taken by the government to restrict red buses from plying the BRT corridor will bring monopoly into the system, which can lead to exploitation.

Our investment is huge, let the government save our businesses and the people.

“None of us has less than 20 buses and a depot each, no one has invested less than N300 million. More than N5 billion investment is in danger. We have about 1,200 buses in this investment.”

The chairman said that the restriction would also affect foreign investment into the country, adding LAGBUS operation was just like a social services to the people.

“We started operations since February 2007 and we maintained the same fare up till date in spite of the increase in the prices of diesel and maintenance. We also use our buses to carry people free at every festive season.

“We also pay royalty on every passenger to the state government in advance, even before picking the passengers. What we are doing is more or less a social service,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government on Monday commenced restriction of LAGBUS branded buses from plying the BRT dedicated corridor along the Ikorodu-CMS route.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Turkey bomb victims ‘mostly children’surviving

Most of the victims of the bombing of a Kurdish wedding party in the Turkish city of Gaziantep on Saturday were children, media reports have said. Twenty-nine victims were under the age of 18, reports said, with one official saying 22 were under the age of 14. The death toll rose to 54 yesterday. The suicide bomber himself was a child aged between 12 and 14, President Recep Tayyip One woman lost four children in the attack, Emine Arhan, said yesterday: “If it wasn’t for my only surviving child, I would have killed myself.” Another victim was a nine-year-old girl who had stayed on at the party to see the bride after her parents had left, according to reports. A disproportionately large number of women and children were killed in the attack because it targeted henna night, a part of the celebration attended mainly by women and children. Turkish officials said the type of bomb used, which contained scraps of metal, was similar to those used in previous attacks on pro-Kurdish gatherings. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

IMMUNITY BILL: A MISPLACED PRIORITY

Certainly, it is not a matter of conjecture to say that the undue interference and unpalatably flagrant disregard to separation of power by the executive tier of government has raised more questions than answers on the integrity of this government and the commitment of the leadership to truly push for the genuine change in line with democratic norms all over the world.   Fatunde Bamidele Samuel (VEGA) writes from lagos. Recently, the society was encapsulated with shocking news of pension bill for the National Assembly members. However, the bill was dead on arrival. This is nothing but another heinous attempt to permanently ground the country that is already suffering from the bloodsucking bedbugs (NASS) and former governors pensions. These are almost sucking the finances of this country dry; if and only if we could act fast to salvage it then we can only hope the existence of Nigeria will not be history. The recent exploit of the National Assembly is evi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Breaking News: Paul Manafort Quits Donald Trump’s Campaign After Tumultuous Run

POLITICS Paul Manafort with reporters in a Republican Convention last month Paul Manafort, installed to run  Donald J. Trump ’s operation after the firing of his original campaign manager, handed in his resignation on Friday, signifying the latest tumult to engulf the candidate, whose standing in the polls has steadily dropped since the  Republican Party ’s convention in July. Mr. Manafort left nearly a week after a New York Times report  about problems within the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign helped precipitate a leadership shake-up. His departure reflects repeated efforts to steady a campaign that has been frequently roiled by the unpredictable behavior of its tempestuous first-time candidate. Mr. Manafort was also dogged  by reports about secretive efforts  he made to help the former pro-Russian government in Ukraine, where he has worked on and off over several years. Those news reports were blotting out much of the press coverage of th...
Post a Comment
Read more