The Ekiti State Government has commenced the deployment of 15 Compressed Natural Gas buses as part of efforts to reduce transportation costs and ease the burden of high fares on residents.
Governor Biodun Oyebanji announced the initiative on Thursday during the official flag-off of the buses at the premises of the Ekiti State Transportation Agency in Ado-Ekiti.
The deployment, which coincided with Nigeria’s Independence Day and the 30th anniversary of Ekiti State, is part of measures to provide more affordable public transportation in the state.
Oyebanji, who was accompanied by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, said the 15 buses donated to the state by the Federal Government represented the pilot phase of the initiative.
He said the state government would expand the fleet to enable more residents to benefit from the programme.
According to the governor, reducing transportation costs is essential to easing the economic pressure on residents.
“The President charged all state Governors that by October first, we should find a way of reducing transportation cost because most of the implications we are witnessing, transportation contributes a lot to it and what we have done today is just the pilot: 15 CNG buses, which are going to be distributed to the unions, and the agency will manage it,” Oyebanji said.
He urged transport unions to ensure that the savings from the CNG buses were passed directly to commuters through reduced fares.
“My appeal is to the Unions; they should allow the gains to translate to the commuters because this will reduce transportation cost by 50 percent,” he said.
Oyebanji also thanked President Bola Tinubu for the Federal Government’s intervention, saying the buses would help reduce the transportation burden on residents.
He said the administration’s economic policies had also created opportunities for states to implement programmes capable of directly improving the lives of citizens.
“No matter how visionary a leader is, if there are no resources to work with, it will just stay in the realm of a vision,” the governor said.
Speaking on the deployment, the Director-General of the Ekiti State Transportation Agency, Tajudeen Akingbolu, said routes had already been mapped out for the buses.
He said the buses would operate on routes connecting Ado-Ekiti with Lagos, Ibadan, Onitsha and Abuja.
According to Akingbolu, the initiative would provide residents with more affordable interstate transportation while helping to reduce the impact of high fares on commuters.