Transport Palliative: NURTW Partners ALBON to implement 50% transport discount directive of Tinubu
The Association of Luxury Bus Owners Of Nigeria, ALBON, has co-opted the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, into implementing the 50% discount on transport fares.
The Initiative is part of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive on 50% discount on transport fares for Nigerians during the yuletide got a boost with one hundred and twenty-eight travelers from Abuja, bound for Gombe, Bauchi, Yola and Maiduguri destinations in the North were freighted paying only half of the transport fares charged for each of their destinations as monitored by the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMT) Situation Room Monitoring Team on Christmas Day, 25th of December, 2023.
The north bound passengers got immediate reimbursement of 50% of the transport fares paid upon boarding their vehicles, by the Chairman of the Association of Luxury Bus Owners (ALBON)’s Task Force on the implementation of the discount, Chief Clement Okuefuna who personally conducted the disbursement in cash at the Area 1 Motor Park from where most of the buses conveying the passengers took off on Christmas day, 25th of December, 2023.
Since the routes to the north were mostly serviced by low-capacity vehicles as opposed to high-capacity luxury vehicles, ALBON has initiated a work arrangement with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), FCT Chapter to service the routes.
ALBON also made good its promise to publicize venues for boarding the vehicles where passengers could be reimbursed 50% of the fares paid.
Starting from as early as 5 am on Christmas Day, four (4 Nos) 16-seater capacity buses began loading, their passengers giving back half of the fares paid and dispatched to Gombe from Area 1 Park in Abuja.
One 16-seater capacity bus was loaded with travelers who also got the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s discount of 50% and dispatched for Bauchi.
Additional buses were loaded and headed for Yola while yet another loaded and headed for Maiduguri.
The last 16-seater passenger bus which loaded, got its passenger refunded half of the transport fares paid back to them and heading to Bauchi and Maiduguri rounded off the operation at Area 1 Motor Park, Abuja.
In all, eight (8) buses loaded with 16 passengers each, totaling 128 (One Hundred and Twenty-Eight cheerful Nigerians got refunded half of the transport fares they paid, courtesy of the directive and provisions made for the special period of Christmas (2023) and New Year palliative ending on January, 4th, 2024).
It was therefore no wonder to hear the politically conscious northern Nigerians cheering and chanting “Jagaban, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, 4 plus 4”, even when the intention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in directing the transport palliative wasn’t towards a political end, but to renew hopes of citizens for a better Nigeria.
