Bauchi State government has approved N1.38 billion for the revival of the state’s Mass Transit Company, operators of “Yankari Express” and other agencies.
The State Executive Council which made the approval on Wednesday said the money would be used to purchase 60 buses for the state’s Mass Transit project.
Alhaji Ali Ali, the Special Adviser on Media and Strategy to Governor Mohammed Abubakar, said this in Bauchi while addressing newsmen on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting, presided over by the governor.
Ali explained that the 18-seater, 2015 model buses would be supplied by Transfiguration Integrated Resource Limited on loan.
He further explained that 30 buses out of the figure would be allocated to the state-owned Mass Transit Company, operators of Yankari Express, to enable the company to boost its fleet.
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Ali said that 20 buses would be allocated to the 20 Local Governments in the state, while the remaining 10 buses would be retained by the government.
He said that the loan would be repaid in three years through an “irrevocable standing order of N190 million monthly and would be deducted at source.
Ali said that the exco also approved for the state government to access credit facilities of N8 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the bank’s Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme.
He said that the state House of Assembly had earlier approved the loan, while the exco, during its Wednesday’s meeting, approved the loan to improve agricultural activities in the state.
The special adviser said that the state government would access the loan through United Bank for Africa (UBA) and would be used to encourage rice, fish and agro-allied production in the state.
He said that government had started accessing the credit facilities since 2016 when it introduced its ANCHOR Farmers Borrowers’ Programme.
