The Federal Government of Nigeria has concluded plans to distribute 2,000 buses to cooperative societies across the country.
The Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Dr. George Akume, made the disclosure in Abuja at a “Cooperative Asset Scheme” meeting.
According to him, the initiative was in collaboration between his ministry, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The convergence will also include other government agencies and co-operative bodies.
“Basically, we recognize the fact that when you give out loans to individuals, sometimes you have the difficulty of recovery. However, when we involve cooperative, it becomes easier to manage the facility.
“The whole essence of the initiative is to ensure that our rural force has access to transportation facilities.
“We do recognize that some transport businessmen could decide to take advantage of fuel increase over Nigerians.
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“So, when this is implemented, we believe the initiative will do quite a lot to stabilize the prices. This will definitely benefit the people,” Akume said.
He said that there was no way the country could promote development without transportation. This explained why President Muhammadu Buhari was working hard in the area of road, rail, and air transportation.
Speaking earlier, the Project Coordinator, Cooperative Asset Scheme, Mr Olakunle Jeff, said that the Federal Government had given the buses to the cooperative societies. This, the government has given a good price for onward distribution to the interested members of society.
He said: “Farmers who are under the cooperative movement would receive the van to convey their farm produce. The would be able to transport from the farm to the road. However, they will pay back”.
