Governor Alex Otti is introducing a rather strange paradigm shift in governance here. It’s strange in a very positive way.

One sector where this is clearly self evident is in the management of the public transportation system in the state.

One of the key parameters that define modern cities is their public transport system. There is usually proper organization here to ensure maximum comfort for the citizens. From well built terminals that promote effective nodality to the different means of transport, garnished with adequate security, management of public transport is critical in building modern cities.

In these parts, public transport has been done in a haphazard way with no clear blueprint for effective management and state supervision. Indeed, public transport has been defined and governed by “organized touting” with the government playing a rather docile role in the system. Here, if you think public transport, what comes to your mind is the AGBERO at the Motor Park. Our Transport Ministry in the past was a glorified motor park supervisor and a state collaborator with transport unions. Nothing more than that. This has been the situation from time immemorial.

That is about to change in Abia State.

Yesterday, Governor Otti paid a working visit to the Umuahia Central Bus Terminal, a novel project that seeks to change the face of public transportation management in the State.
For the records, this is the very FIRST TIME we are seeing this kind of project in this state. What has defined our public transportation system is the proliferation of motor parks across our cities managed by rough looking touts. These parks are usually unkempt, dirty and insecure, subjecting passengers to all manner of discomfort.

Otti came with a different strategy, to build modern consolidated Public Transport Terminals in our major cities. These are not mere motor parks. They are transport hubs, futuristic in nature to promote effective nodality in transport management. They are one stop shops in everything transport. These terminals, upon completion, will “swallow” all other motor parks in the town, as all transport businesses will now be done there.
It’s even more than that. Otti has nodality in full view. This means that in these terminals, future railway projects will have a clear intersection and stop at this place. In modern transport management, nodality refers to a system where different means of transport intersect at a critical point for effective management.
The Umuahia Terminal, which is nearing completion, is a testament to Otti’s modern taste and top class preferences.
When he conceived this idea, he brought the best hands to build it. PLANET PROJECTS is clearly the leader in construction of modern terminals in Nigeria. They built the eye popping terminal at Oshodi, Lagos.They are the ones building the Umuahia Terminal with another one in Aba.

Otti came with a clear blueprint to change the face of public transport in Abia State and he has been implementating it with fervor and single minded determination.
If you recall, he started with the construction of modern bus stops in Aba and Umuahia. When this was started, many people didn’t understand what he was doing. I didn’t, myself. Jokes were cracked when the bus stops started springing up.
Where are the buses that will service these bus stops? The man ignored every distraction and kept pushing the jobs.

When the buses came eventually, they came with a bang!
He shocked everyone by bringing in ELECTRIC BUSES. He didn’t go for petrol nor diesel powered buses. He didn’t even go for the CNG buses. He went electric. When the idea of the electric buses were first mooted by Otti, we all laughed. I laughed very hard. Electric buses in Abia? How? Where? How will they be charged and powered?

Today, 20 brand new electric buses are here. We see them daily as they operate between Aba and Umuahia and Ohaifia and Port Harcourt, carrying people free of charge, in the first instance, and managed by well mannered and well dressed drivers and conductors. Fully air conditioned!
Otti has shown that transport management can be done by decent people. He has simply told us that these things we see abroad are possible here.
The idea is to ultimately have 100 of these buses in operation before the end of next year. Imagine the impact this will have on our public transportation system.
By eliminating multiple motor parks, this new system seeks to improve our town planning, just like the electric buses will reduce emissions that pollute our environment by eliminating engine combustion.

Ideas rule the world and blessed is a people governed by a man of ideas.
You see this Governor? Yes, Governor Otti?
He came, not just almost fully made, like Chinua Achebe, once described Chimamanda Adichie.
This Governor came prepared. Few years from now, things will completely take a new positive turn.

God bless Abia State.

Ururu Aja is the Director General of the Abia State Strategic Communication Bureau.