News

Malam Muhammad Musa Bello

 In a bid to mitigate the effect of the recent hike in the pump price of petrol, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has announced a number of palliative measures to cushion the likely impact of the hike in the price on workers of the FCTA and indeed all the residents of the territory.

The FCT Minister Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, who disclosed this through a circular signed by the FCT Director of Establishment and Training Mr. S. H. Mohammed, said the measures were in line President Muhammadu Buhari’s change agenda of improving the welfare of all Nigerians.

Bello revealed that the measures were put in place after a careful consideration of the likely impact of the ripple effect of the change in the price of petrol particularly in the transport sector and to ensure that it does not in any way hamper the workers’ movement to and from their places of work.

The Minister said the Abuja Urban Mass Transit Company (AUMTCO) has been directed to immediately increase the number of large capacity buses plying the various routes in the territory particularly the Satellite towns to ensure that transport fares remain stable and are not arbitrarily increased by other transport operators to the detriment of commuters.“We want to ensure that all the residents of the territory are not made to suffer by transporters who may want to take advantage of the hike in the price of fuel to increase transport fares beyond the reach of the ordinary citizens.

“That is why we are doubling the number of buses to service all the routes and also increase the turn-around time so that people do not have to wait for too long before a bus arrives,” he explained.

The designated routes for the re-introduced Staff Bus Scheme are: Nyanya/Karu; Mar araba/Masaka; Keffi/Nasarawa and Suleja/Zuba. Other routes are: Kubwa; Gwagwalada/Lugbe; Jikwoyi/Karshi; Dutse/Bwari as well as Kuje.

He said all Heads of Secretariats, Departments and Agencies have been directed to request interested members of Staff to indicate their willingness to join any of the approved routes to ensure that no staff is left out of the scheme.

The Minister assured that the FCT administration will work assiduously to fully implement the FCT component of the palliative measures announced by the Federal Government as contained in the 2016 budget in order to bring succor to the generality of Nigerians.