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New taxis: Alao-Akala re-invents transport- To boost tourism in Oyo State Tuesday, October 20, 2009 One of the known features of Ibadan town are rickety taxis. That is about to change as TAYO LEWIS reports.
The city of Ibadan is known for many things, depending on who is describing the ancient town. The writer, John Pepper Bekederemo-C1ark was attracted by its tempting flora and fauna, in his poem, entitled IBADAN, the Niger-Deltan described in awestruck words the hills of the ancient town.
Were J.P. Clark to be a Geography student, he would probably have recalled that Ibadan is the third largest city on the African continent, and the first largest in West Africa.
A newcomer to Ibadan, who is just passing through the city, could probabaly be struck by the number of browned or browning roof-tops that litter the horizon as far as the eyes can see.
If you bother to intrude into the city, you might find that leaves from cooked corn meal are part of the landscape, and if you did not come with your own means of transport, then you will likely travel within the city on the unique cabs that ply the intra -city roads in the town.
They are unique in many respects, some tell the history of the town, having been bought so long ago and transported many of its now deceased historical personages. Some are mere contraptions such that people from other climes will wonder how such models are still being maintained on their wheels.
Any wonder that auto mechanics in Ibadan are reverred elsewhere as geniuses? The good news is that the Oyo State government is set to change the face of intra-city transportation in Ibadan saving commuters the several fights that usually ensue when the rickety taxis rip their clothes apart as they attempt to either embark or disembark from the things which the drivers refer to as taxis, but which even the manufacturers have since forgotten they ever conceived, not to talk of manufacturing.
The state government recently purchased brand new cars which it is giving out soon to enable residents have a new lease of life as far as intra-city transportation is concerned. Reacting to the insinuation in certain quarters that the present administration in Oyo State was borrowing heavily to finance some of its projects, the governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala said: “I didn’t borrow money from anywhere, we may borrow another time, but as I speak with you, we didn’t borrow a kobo.
I must not deceive you, earlier last year, we borrowed, but this year we didn’t because of the windfall of bank stock and we have chosen to be prudent with the money by spending it properly. We cut our coat according to our size. One of the cardinal principles of my administration is that we wouldn’t embark on any white elephant project, so we embark on those projects we would be able to finish on time.
“One thing about critics is that they are busy bodies. Even if I should paint the whole Ibadan with gold, the opposition would still find one thing or the other to say. For instance , they may ask how many karat gold did he use? Why not this and that karat? They would always find one thing or the other to talk about. Since 1999, at different capacities, I have been part of government, and I make bold to say that no government in the state had been able to achieve all we have achieved.
My government has brought so much desired dividends of democracy to all nooks and crannies of the state.“It goes beyond siting projects in local government headquarters alone, we site projects in villages and sub-rural areas of the state. There is no place we have not built schools, healthcare centres, markets and many others. We have the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that has helped us a lot in achieving our goals. Where there is no water, we provide motorised borehole for the people. The people are happy with us because we have touched their lives.”
The coming taxis have already started generating controversy in the politically volatile state. According to government’s spokesman, Prince Dotun Oyelade, the taxi scheme, referred to as Corporate Transport Scheme (CTS) will be run with educated drivers as it is meant to boost tourism potentials of the state and enhance the hospitality needed by potential foreign investors.
“We are not neccessarily talking of university graduates but educated drivers who can at least communicate in English with potential investors being attracted into the city,” Prince Oyelade said. For Governor Alao-Akala, he is not bothered by criticisms of the scheme since critics may never see good in any government development programme.
“I am not bothered about the campaign of calumny by the opposition. I was called so many names before the last general elections, so whatever they say now does not bother me.“We leave the fault finders out of this because they are not our targets in this regard. When you do the right thing as a government, critics would play the ostrich, but the moment you err, they go to work.
Those writing and talking negative things about this government are those who think they can run down this government and build their own political empire; but that is bad. One should have the fear of God. I will tell you, no government achieved half of what we have achieved.
In fact, I cannot remember any project executed in and around my town by Lam and I cannot remember as a deputy governor, what Ladoja did in my town; but every town, every council headquarters has projects executed under this government.
The beneficiaries are grateful to us, it was in appreciation of this laudable feat that I was honoured with the title Akogun of Irua. Irua is about 46kilometres to Ibadan . We tarred their roads which no government had done before now, the same thing, the Ibarapa people did. All these they did in appreciation of the government’s efforts at making life meaningful to the people.”
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