As part of efforts to address the rising cost of transportation across the North East region and the country, the Adamawa State government, alongside governments of the sister states in the northeastern region, in conjunction with P-GAT Industries, initiators of Affordable Transport Solutions (ATRaS), has inaugurated advanced affordable electric tricycles for Keke nape operators in Numan, Adamawa State.
Inaugurating the electric tricycles, the traditional ruler of the Bata Kingdom, Hama Bata, Humo Gladson Teneke, said these tricycles will not only provide jobs for the teeming youths but will also improve the internally generated revenue of the area and the state at large.
The first-class monarch commended the initiatives of P-GAT Industries Limited, which, through its Affordable Transport Solutions scheme (ATRas), deployed 300 electric tricycles for commercial use at a moderate transport fare for commuters.
He also commended all the governments of the six northeastern states for keying into the vision of P-GAT Industries Limited and noted that this gesture will further unite the states for more economic growth and curb the security challenges in the zone and even the country.
The Commissioner of Transport Development in Adamawa State, Mrs Wunfe Anthony, in her welcome address, commended the initiative and the acceptance of this initiative by all the states of the zone; this will make the movement of goods and services easier.
She noted that the cost-effectiveness of these electric tricycles will reduce a lot of burden from workers and commuters. We have already keyed into this programme, and the government of Adamawa State is doing so much on road infrastructure.
With good roads across the state, these electric tricycles will serve for guaranteed years of duration.
Chairman of the firm, Engr Prime Timothy, in his speech during a summit heralding the inauguration of the electric tricycles, said ATRaS is an answer to contemporary costly transport fares in Nigeria.
He disclosed that the company had taken the last five years of careful planning to arrive at ATRaS, which is designed to provide an integrated transport system for all the states of the North East in the initial years.
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Representatives of the governments of the six Northeast states attended the ATRaS Mobility Transition Summit and the inauguration of the electric tricycles in Numan, Adamawa State
In her goodwill message, Dr Nafisa Tijani of the Borno State Investment Promotion Agency, who represented Governor Babagana Zulum at the summit, said Borno State is ready for the scheme, as the state has designed its investment system in such a way that ATRaS and any investor can key into businesses within two months.
Engr. Timothy Iwuagwu, President of the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria, in his goodwill message, was optimistic that the ATRaS scheme would work well in the North East, especially as the region is more secure than Nigerians outside the region would believe.
He noted that the electric tricycles were assembled and put together by Nigerians here in Nigeria through technical crews trained here in Nigeria.
The former military safety instructor added that the need for technical schools from the primary to tertiary levels of education can never be overemphasised, stressing that “now is the time for our youths to show what they can do and not the paper qualifications they have.”
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