joshuaCross Riverians are happy about Otu’s free bus service – Akiba
The Special Adviser (SA) on General Duties to Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State, Barrister Ekpenyong Akiba, says Cross River people are quite delighted over the benevolence of the governor in launching the Season of Sweetness Free Transport Service free bus services to ease movement and help reduce the plight of Cross Riverians during the Yuletide season.
Akiba, the legal pundit recently conferred with the Honorary Doctorate Degree by the Apostolic Church Bible College and Seminary (ACBCS) in affiliation with University of Calabar (UNICAL), doubles as the Chairman of the Committee in charge of monitoring the free bus service scheme, designed to benefit all Cross Riverians and visitors in the state for the Christmas and Carnival Calabar events.
He noted that the governor’s gesture was in fulfilment of his campaign promise to always embark on initiatives that are pro-people.
According to the SA on General Duties, “The Season of Sweetness Free Bus Service is a way of ensuring that many Cross Riverians feel the impact of the governor’s administration. The governor believes that giving the people such free transport services this season to cushion the effect of the economic hardship was of paramount importance.
“Cross Riverians are very much happy about this kind gesture of the governor. They are highly excited to see that the governor, a man well-known for his compassionate spirit, is showing great concern about the plight of the people. The people are delighted knowing that the free bus service is worth it, considering the high cost of transportation. They are indeed pleased with what the governor is doing generally to put smiles on the faces of Cross Riverians.
“As the chairman of the monitoring team, I can say that the free bus service is going on smoothly without any hitch. Also in the committee monitoring the scheme is the SA on transport to the governor, Chairman of Commercial Transport Regulatory Agency (CTRA), membership of Unified Drivers Association in the state, representatives of other transport unions and members of security agencies.
“The free bus service has lasted for about two weeks and still running into the new year. We have free buses in all the routes within the metropolis. For long distance we have Calabar to Ogoja, Calabar to Ikom, Calabar to Obudu, Calabar to Abi, Calabar to Ugep, Calabar to Yakurr and Calabar to Akpabuyo and Bakassi local government areas. For proper monitoring, there is a supervisor for each of the buses running long distance and a manifest containing the names of the passengers and their phone numbers for easy communication.”
Barrister Akiba revealed that “His Excellency, Governor Bassey Otu is working hard towards overhauling the entire transport sector (air, water and land transport) and finding a permanent solution to the problem of transportation in Cross River State. Plans are underway to bring CROSSLINE, the state transport outfit, back to life to ease transportation in the state.”
He added that “Drivers in the state are equally happy and applauding the governor for his efforts in ensuring that potholes which are causing serious damages to their vehicles were repaired. They are happy that the governor has installed streetlights which have helped in reducing accidents at night. The governor is working towards a coordinated ticketing system to control multiple taxations and operation of the drivers. So, the transport sector will witness total transformation.”
