Edo State Government has inaugurated a task force to investigate the declining revenue profile of the road transport sector.
Inaugurating the 9- man task force in his office in Benin, the State Deputy Governor, Rt Hon Comrade Philip Shaibu said the action was not meant to witch hunt anybody, adding that it was ” just a fact finding body to look into the declining revenue profile of the two approved transport unions in the state.”
These are the Road Transport Workers Association of Nigeria and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN headed by Chief Odion Olaye and Pastor Sunday Erahon respectively.
According to the Deputy Governor, consistently, these two main union have been posting same figures in the last nine months of year 2021. ” Even during your rush period, ( festivities) the figures remained constant”. The other sister union, ANAWATT that deals with just tricycles and bikes, ” has been doing very well, posting higher returns. I believe something is wrong somewhere. The target of 1.5billion naira we set for our selves for 2021, we did not get anything close to it. So, this is what I want the taskforce to find out and how we can block the leakages and boost our revenue from this sector to the benefit of our people.”
The task force is headed by Chief of Staff, Office of the Deputy Governor, Hon Jimoh Ijegbai and it’s expected to turn in its report within four weeks. In his response on behalf of other members, Ijegbai said the body will work round the clock to turn in the report within the time frame to boost revenue in the sector.
Other members of the task force include Chief Odion Olaye, Pastor Sunday Erahon, local government representatives from the three senatorial districts, a representative from the state Revenue Board and the development partners.
