By Isreal Adamu, Jos
The Commissioner for Transport in Plateau State, Hon. Davou Jatau Gyang has reiterated that the incumbent Governor of Plateau State, His Excellency Barrister Caleb M. Mutfwang has made huge strides in Transportation in Plateau State, through the Ministry of Transport, despite the challenges he met on resumption of office in 2023.
Hon. Davou Jatau Gyang, who spoke to newsmen in his office at the Plateau State Secretariat said, the Governor took major steps in transportation on his resumption, in order to help cushion and mitigate the effects of the Subsidy removal by the Federal Government and the subsequent rise in prices and fares.
He said, upon been sworn in, the Governor, through the Ministry of Transport, which he is heading as Commissioner, made up his mind that his administration must make life easy and meaningful for the people hence, “We had to roll up our sleeves to give the people of Plateau State succor”.
Hon. Davou, disclosed that “This was the reason why the Governor and his administration had to bring back the train services, introduce the Metro Buses, and also went into MoU with “Value Jet”, to provide flight services profitably and in another hand to improve on the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)”.
Hon. Davou Jatau Gyang, in part said, “I was appointed in August 2023, by His Excellency, Governor Caleb M. Mutfwang (Esq), to head the Ministry of Transport Plateau State.
We actually came in during a challenging moment when transportation was a serious issue across the federation, with Plateau State as one of the federating unit.
“Owing to the challenges and with a plan by the Governor and the administration to make life easy and meaningful for the people, we had to roll up our sleeves to give the people of Plateau State succor.
“You would recall that we came in during the removal of subsidy by the Federal Government that led to hick in prices and fares.
“First and foremost, we thought of the railway system, we went into talks/interface with the Nigerian Railway Cooperation (NRC) to really see how best the service can provide the needed succor for the people. You know the railway system of transport has been absent from the state for decades.
“The Governor was so magnanimous as usual, he approved the revitalization of the rail services in the state, to which we have rehabilitated 35 Kilometers of rail tracks from the Railway Terminal here in Jos, to Kuru station, as well as, reworked the rolling-stocks by the NRC, what I mean by Rolling-stocks are, the Locomotives, the Couches, and the Power-cars.
All these items were initially brought in bad shapes. The efforts in this direction are all aimed with the desire to give Plateau people, some sort of succor in the area of Transportation after the removal of Subsidy.
“We brought these items to Jos, the capital of Plateau State, and gave them a suitable face lift. It is on record today the people have had a taste of train transportation again in the state.
“Notwithstanding, we had one teething problem or the other in making this system work. But now, the people are benefiting from it.
“As at last year December 2024, we recorded huge commuters daily, close to a Thousand (1000) moving between Jos City in Jos-north Local Government Area (LGA) and Bukuru Town in Jos-South LGA, and the people have been jubilating, while praising the feat achieved by the Governor in this area.
“For now, we want to tidy up the needed agreement with NRC to see how better to serve the people. You would recall that we are still running on a trial period based on our earlier agreement and NRC would come to take over.
“It is also of note that the State Government has paid every bill that arouse in course of the rail rehabilitation.
“One other thing the Ministry of Transport did under the leadership of Governor Mutfwang (Esq) immediately after assuming office, was to sign an MoU with “Value-Jet”, with the aim of returning flights to Jos Airport. Before our coming to office, we were not having flights from Jos to Abuja and Abuja to Jos. Now we have Value Jet flying Abuja-Jos rout, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
“The first MoU was in 2023 and now we have gotten an extension for another Six (6) Months with the clear intension to develop the route till it become self-sustaining and sufficient, that they can fly in without government’s intervention.
“We are having the next round of it expiring on the 17th of February 2025, which we also desire to extend until the rout is stabilized.
“One of the ways we want to make it self-sufficient is to inform Value Jet of an opportunity they are not really exploring, which is the Lagos route, which for some time now has been left to another Airline. In our next discussion we would want them to explore this route.
“We honestly want to have fights daily from Jos to most parts of the country, without the present daily gaps. We are currently making efforts to develop routs to the South-south and South-east among many others. Ypu know many Igbo business moguls among other tribe who frequently come to Jos, like traveling by air.
“It is sad that most of them have to travel first to Abuja before linking up to their main destinations. We simply want to have a situation where they go directly from Jos Airport. There are also plans on ground on the air-lifting of pilgrims from Jos to the various religious Holy lands.
“The Governor has made very serious commitment towards the upgrade of the Jos Airport to a Cargo Airport. On this, underground works are on top gear.
“The idea is to enable the Agricultural products and produce to be taken to most parts of the globe and to encourage the state farmers to produce more, as there would be markets for their farm produce.
“Again, we are conducting enumeration to enable the state get data of certain businesses that are transport related within the state, to work hand in hand with the public transport management system, which is currently operating in the state as a pilot scheme.
This scheme helps the state to create surveillance through installed cameras. You can see how it works in our situation room within the Ministry. All vehicles that are passing through the parameters of the cameras are seen here in the Ministry.
“This is aimed at, curtailing incidences of car theft, movement of unregistered vehicles, and vehicles moving with expired documents by the State Government.
The government wants a situation where the VIO who is on the road would have flat vehicles to target, instead of stopping every vehicle on sight. Especially for the vehicles whose documents have expired that pass through the cameras, would be easily detected and notification sent to the VIO on duty.
“From our study, over 50% of vehicles plying the streets are not registered. So, this scheme will greatly improve the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state.
“The introduction of Metro-Buses in the state through the Plateau Express Service, is one great stride of Governor Caleb Mutfwang recoded in the Transport Ministry in the state.
The operation of the Buses allow commuters living 20 to 0 Kilometers to get to their destinations with just N200. 00. It has helped the citizens to manage the harsh economic situation and enable them to save out of the low fare charged by the buses”, he added.
