At least fifty million Naira debt inherited by the Katsina State Transport Authority (KTSTA) has been settled by the management of the agency in four years.
Other debts settled by the authority include salaries and the impress of its workers and all other related liabilities from dealers and traders of assorted vehicle spare parts.
This was courtesy of the new financial arrangement vis-a-vis the public-private partnership introduced by the Governor Aminu Masari’s led administration where each money generated is divided into three portions.
The first portion goes to staff salary, the second portion goes to vehicle maintenance and the third goes to capital investment.
The General Manager of the State Transport Authority, Haruna Musa Rugoji stated, this on Thursday during the launch of three additional brand new buses purchased by the authority in an effort to increase the number of its fleet.
He also announced that the transport authority sensitises its drivers on safety measures. According to him, the agency does not relent in monitoring its drivers, most times in disguise, resulting in the sack and arrest of many.
“The effort we have made is that when we came on board in 2018, we met the authority in its dilapidation stage where out of the 106 vehicles that were available, 57 were grounded with various degrees of problems.
“49 vehicles were flying roads out of which only two are serviceable and with huge debt.
“But with the help and intervention of the State Governor, Aminu Masari, bringing us on board and supporting the authority with 25 new buses to complement in generating more revenue to the organization, we were able to identify within the abundant vehicles those that were economically viable and those that were not and we then did the needful.
“It has now reached the level that we have zero vehicles waiting for maintenance in the workshop.
“We were also able to settle virtually all the liabilities we inherited including salaries and impress of the workers as well as those that the organization was owing.
“Some of these debts have been there since 2012 and we had to identify the owners and paid them their money back at their respective shops.”
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Meanwhile, the State Governor, Aminu Masari while launching the three newly purchased brand new buses at the General Muhammadu Buhari Government House, Katsina, appreciated the performance of the current management.
“I have been involved with the KTSTA as far back as 1992 when I was the Commissioner of Works Housing and Transport during the administration of Governor Alhaji Sa’idu Barda where the KTSTA then was not functioning; in fact, it was dead. We advised the then governor to resuscitate the transport authority for the benefit of the masses which he did and then we started with not more than 30 new buses at that time.
“We then brought in a new management led by Alhaji Gafai with a new financial arrangement whereby we used to divide the KTSTA revenue into three namely; one for salary, one for maintenance, and one for capital investment.
“After that, things started falling apart in the authority with various successive governments sinking a lot of money and when we came in, we also attempted to make changes but our initial efforts were not paid until we brought new management under Alhaji Haruna Musa Rugoji.
“And we instructed him to first make sure that the vehicles are functioning, all the outstanding liabilities belonging to the staff, in particular, are settled and those who supplied them with spare parts and other services are paid.
“In 2018, we bought 25 brand new buses for the authority and since that period, we started recording the desired outcome; the authority so far purchased a total of 27 additional buses which means it can stand on its feet; with the current general manager testifying that the authority can look after itself, do some minor works and pay salaries of the staff without any dependency on government,” he added.
