BRT: Massive Sack Looms, Operators Lament Ageing Buses

By Tosin Olatokunbo

Fola Tinubu, the managing director of Primero Transport Services Limited, operators of the Lagos Bus Rapid Transport has disclosed that the service could be hampered by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN failure to make available forex to import essential parts for their buses. The operators are faced with the hard option of sacking hundreds of workers if something is not done quickly, the businessman said.

He said the price of vehicle parts imported within the last eight months by the firm had increased with about N400 million now because the naira then was exchanging for N360 to the dollar.

Figures from the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority,  LAMATA indicate that 20 million trips are made daily in the city by BRT buses.

According to him, the challenge has made it impossible to provide essential service for commuters as operators could no longer refurbish old and faulty buses.

Tinubu, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN warning that the services also faces a challenge from the state government which tries to control fares commuters pay for BRT services. He noted that inflation is eaten up into operators’ revenue who are struggling to remain in business.

Citing other challenges confronting the operators Tinubu said the high cost of diesels is having a crippling effect on the operators’ determination to provide seamless, fast transport services to millions of Lagosians.

“ We were buying a litre of diesel late last year at about N181.90, it is between N255 and N258 a litre now.This means our cost is going up, government cannot cap our revenue generating ability (by fixing fares) and leaves our cost to keep galloping. It’s a recipe for disaster.

“Also, we want to import vehicle parts into the country so we can fix our faulty buses. But, the CBN told us that they don’t have foreign exchange for parts. The reality is that if the cost keeps going up and every time naira loses its value, our cost will shoot up because we do not manufacture anything in this country. With this situation, it will be hard to provide a transport system of a world-class economy.”

He also warned that should the situation persists, the companies will have no other option than to sack over 2000 direct and indirect staff working for the transport services, adding that the Lagos State government should allow the operators to determine fares as it is done in  other countries.

“Transport is the backbone of the economy, people have to move from point A to point B. If government wants to make people’s lives easier and does not want us to charge more than the current fares, it must be ready to subsidise our cost of operations, the sad fact is, if we want a world- class service, it has to be paid for.

We can either stay with our `danfo’ and `okada’ mode of transportation, or we go the way other countries are doing it. Other countries are doing it well and it is not about rocket science,” he said

The chief executive of the firm  paints a gloomy future for the service if the current situation is allowed to persist.

He said “God forbids, if anything happens to Primero, the commercial bus drivers are going to be charging as high as N1,000 as transport fare per passenger from Ikorodu to TBS and people will have no choice than to pay.

“I fully understand the plights of the masses because all over the world people spend between 15 per cent and 25 per cent of their income on transportation. But in Nigeria, it is between 50 per cent and 75 per cent.

“For somebody who has spent between 50 per cent and 75 per cent of his or her income on transportation, if you want to increase fare by N50, he will oppose it; but the question is how do we make it work?’

“If we want a world-class service, it has to be paid for. The employees have to be paid, the diesel suppliers have to be paid and the parts’ suppliers too have to be paid. All of these things have to be paid for,’’ he stated.