Between January and July 2025, Oyo State government has subsidised transport fare for 5,880,000 passengers under the Sustainable Action for Economic Recovery (SAfER).
SAfER Transport is an initiative introduced by the governor to mitigate the economic hardship, and Chairman of the Pacesetter Transport Services, Ibrahim Oladeji Dikko, said on Monday that the beneficiaries of the initiative include students, pensioners, the aged, people living with disabilities and other residents on the state-owned Pacesetter Buses on different intra-city and inter-city routes.
Dikko stated that Pacesetter Transport Services was able to commute 9,950,000 passengers in 2024, noting that the state government committed a total of N2.1 billion towards subsidising transport cost across Ibadan and other inter-city routes such as Ibadan-Iseyin-Saki route, Ibadan-Oyo-Ogbomoso route and Ibadan-Ibarapa route.
“Since August 5th, 2023, when Governor ‘Seyi Makinde announced SAfER, till date, the state government has spent N2,151,000,000 to subsidise transportation for the people.
“Between August 5th and December 2023, the governor invested N541 million in subsidising transport fare by 50 per cent for residents of the state. We commuted between 26,000 and 30,000 people on a daily basis in 2023. “In 2024, the government invested N924 million, and we commuted over 9,950,000 people in 2024.
As of this year, Dikko said the governor has injected N686 million to commute about 5,880,000 passengers between January and July. “The public needs to know what the governor has been doing to put all those buses back on the road and to ensure that life is easier for residents of the state.”
The PTS chairman lauded Governor Makinde for transforming and reforming the transport company, which had become moribund prior to his assumption of office in 2019, noting that the PTS has experienced growth since he was appointed as the Chairman/Sole Administrator of the Company in July 2023.
According to him, apart from recording an increase in the number of functioning vehicles and routes, paying pensions/gratuities and also restructuring of the workforce for better service delivery to the masses, the company has introduced several innovations including digital payment system and installation of Closed-Circuit TV cameras and trackers in the vehicles.
The Services currently run 39 intra-city routes with 55 buses as well as five inter-city routes with 10 buses, the PTS revived 30 buses in 2023 and deployed the same within Ibadan metropolis, and another 16 buses to the intercity routes, with a total of 46 buses deployed for the SAfER Transport.
The Services went digital on September 24, 2023 and card payment system was introduced, helping to reduce revenue leakage, siphoning of diesel, and diversion of routes by drivers as well as speed control, and helping to increase revenues from N200,000 to over N1.5 million in a day, with a steady rise in the number of subscribers with 262,000 subscribers recorded to date.
He equally mentioned the clearing of the company’s tax liabilities to the tune of N150 million, the payment of salaries without defaulting, acquisition of 20KVA and 250KVA generating sets, total reconstruction of the company and improved staff welfare, such as the introduction of overtime allowances, management meeting allowances and implementation of minimum wage, among others, as some of the achievements of the PTS.
He revealed how he has been able to expand the services of the PTS, which according to him, have earned more revenues for the state, saying: “Let me say this. There are other avenues whereby we have expanded to make money, because we can’t rely on 50 per cent subsidies across all routes in the state.
“We have taken expansion as a core mandate, a mission. We have expanded. And that is why we have Lagos and Abuja routes to just augment. And also, we have introduced logistics services. You can send your goods and services to Ibadan, Lagos or Abuja.
“Also, there is an opportunity to make money from branding. You can brand our buses. So, those are ways we just augment, and we have more profits.”
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