The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has vowed to overhaul the now comatose Abuja Urban Mass Transportation Company (AUMTC) despite the challenges of funds being faced by the Administration.
The minister who made the promise when the House of Representatives Committee on Mass Transit visited him in his office to explore modalities to revamping the once vibrant Abuja Urban Mass Transit company, said it is embarrassing for a capital city like Abuja to lack a world-class mass transportation system.
While lamenting the hiring of buses to churches and other event holders by the management of the transportation company, Wike blamed its comatose state on the attitude of the leadership of the AUMTC, who over the years, allowed government assets to decay because its, not their properties.
He also assured FCT residents that he would tackle the menace of one chance at once within the territory noting that with a functional transportation system in place, one chance operators will disappear.
He also disclosed that N2 billion was approved for palliatives by President Bola Tinubu for FCT in the federal government’s subsidy programme and that his concern was transportation, but he needs to know where they are present.
The Minister lamented that AUMTCO buses were been loaned out for other uses without maintenance because “People think that government business is not their business, but where you work should be your concern.”
The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Mass Transit, Afam Oghene, said the committee was ready to provide all the necessary support to the FCT Minister to enable him to effectively revamp the transportation system in the territory as well as ensure that the Abuja Metro Line fully comes alive in line with the Minister’s determination.
