A committee of the House of Representatives Committee has decried the inability of beneficiaries to repay the N16billion Urban Mass Transit Schemes loan facilitated through the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) funds.
The ad hoc committee is investigating Failure of Federal Mass Transit Schemes in Nigeria since 1999.
Chairman of the Committee, Afam Ogene, in a statement on Monday, said most of the beneficiaries of the government intervention did not repay the loan.
It would be recalled that former President Goodluck Jonathan introduced the SURE-P scheme following the partial removal of the subsidy scheme.
“A total of 1,179 vehicles were released to the beneficiaries under the scheme, with a repayment plan covering four years. However, according to TIB, many of the beneficiaries defaulted and didn’t repay the loans.
“For instance, records show that as of December 2015, only two of the beneficiaries, ABC Transport PLC and The Young Shall Grow Transport Limited, liquidated their loans. Most of the beneficiaries are yet to pay as stipulated in the contractual agreements signed between them and TIB,” he said.
Mr Ogene noted that despite the failure of the last intervention, the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration attempted to introduce different transportation interventions.
He said the committee will investigate all the previous interventions in the transportation sector.
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