‘Lagos needs 7000 modern public buses’

The world’s major bus and coach supplier, Yutong, on Monday said that Lagos State would need about 7, 000 modern buses to reduce the problems of public transportation across the state.

Yutong’s Vice General Manager for International Business, Mr Kent Chang, also said that other States in Nigeria would each need about 500 modern public buses.

Chang, who spoke with journalists on the sidelines of a visiting delegation of Nigerian Journalists on tour of the company’s factory, said that Nigeria needed to learn from China.

“For Nigeria to reduce the problems of traffic congestion and make transportation much easier for her people, it is important to have more modern public buses.

“China was able to reduce the problems of Public transportation through the use of public buses. So, Nigeria can also begin to engage in the use of more public buses.

“Lagos, as its busiest and most populated city, would need about 7, 000 modern buses to reduce the problems of public transportation in the state.

“Other states across Nigeria should start with about 500 of the same buses each. That way, there will less smaller public buses on the roads,’’ he said.

Chang, who said that some of his organisation’s buses were gradually increasing on Nigerian roads, expressed the company’s readiness to supply Nigerian governments and private organisations with more buses, as the needs arise.

The company’s vice general manager for international business was interested in supplying more buses that would be built to Nigeria’s specifications.

According to him, Yutong is currently exporting buses to France, UK, Australia, Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Chile, Singapore and the Philippines.

“By the end of 2017, “Yutong had eight Overseas spare parts centres in Australia, France, Russia, Cuba, Dubia, Venezuela, Panama and South Africa.

“Yutong has exported 44 fully electric intercity buses to France, and is ranked first regarding the sales volume of full electric intercity buses to Europe,’’ he said.

As the No.1 bus brand in China, Yutong boasts of a powerful Research and Development capability and has the largest bus production base in the world.

Institution calls for effective leadership to promote good governance

The African Heritage Institution (Afri-Heritage), a socio-political and economic analytical institution, has advocated for effective leadership to promote good governance in the country.

The Executive Director of the institution, Prof. Ufo Okeke-Uzodike, made the call in a statement made available to newsmen on Monday in Enugu.

Okeke-Uzodike said that effective political leadership entailed the capacity to achieve good results by evolving evidence-based policies.

He said that effective leadership must have strong buy-in from the general public through effective articulation, commitment and leadership.

“In many developing countries such as Nigeria, leadership is approached differently from what obtains in prospering countries.

“Many people assume leadership positions in developing societies not because they have the capacity to lead or contribute meaningfully to the realization of the aspirations or needs of their people.

“They want to be ‘leaders’ and have the capacity or the network to achieve their goals.

“Such holders of public office ascribe little or no interest to the idea of service leadership.’’

According to him, in Nigeria, transformative social progress has been stalled for decades in spite of ample supplies of human and material resources.

“Experience, knowledge and capacity to lead are relegated to the background; by contrast, wealth, regional affiliations, ethnicity, religion, elitist connections and other mundane considerations are placed on the front burner,’’ he said.