 stepped in with a timely solution known as City Service Scheme.){kind=link}
Listen to this articleSOKOTO, Nigeria: On a hot afternoon in June, Fatima-Zahra Ahmad, a 22-year-old student at Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto, made her way to the Dandima Bus Stop, the gateway to her journey home. With a fatigued yet eager expression, she boarded an 18-seater bus, settling in alongside other passengers.
Fatima-Zahra, who resides at Sokoto State Polytechnic Staff Quarters, about 11 kilometres away, had previously endured a stressful and costly commute between her home and university. Prior to the implementation of the Sokoto State Government’s City Service Scheme, Fatima-Zahra was forced to contend with a transportation budget of ₦2,000 daily which failed to cover her daily commute to and from the university.
However, “the bus service is not only cheap for me but it’s the easiest and most comfortable means to get home,” Fatima-Zahra noted. “Sometimes it’s not even the cost that refrains my movement but how long I have to wait before getting a tricycle or bike to carry me home. They will be saying my destination is too far.”
For decades, the residents of Sokoto, in Nigeria’s northwest, have been experiencing a transportation dilemma. Despite the creation of the Sokoto State Transport Authority (SSTA) in 1988, which introduced a fleet of vehicles designed for travel between states and Local Government Areas (LGAs), the critical need for affordable, accessible intra-city transportation remained unmet. This void had been filled by commercial motorcycles and tricycles, popularly known as Keke, providing a solution that came at a steep financial cost for residents.
In 2023, shortly after President Bola Tinubu removed fuel subsidy –which made the price of petroleum to triple– the SSTA purchased 50 Toyota Hiace 18-seater buses and 20 Toyota Camry cars and allocated them to 12 newly established bus stops to serve passengers within the metropolis, with over 6 inter-connected routes. All of the Camry cars were designated as ‘Iyaye Mata’ which loosely translates to ‘for mothers’ specifically providing transport services for women and girls.
How the fleet of vehicles operates
Other states across Nigeria have relied on privately-owned commercial vehicles for transport because government-owned transport systems are not well coordinated. Even in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, the urban mass transit has failed to fulfil commuter’s needs due to poor planning and maintenance. Similarly, in Kwara, a state in the north-central region, a once-promising transport scheme, Kwara Express, which had been launched in 1988, fell into a steady decline over the years until it reached a point of ineffectiveness. By 2012, the agency’s struggles had reached a critical point, as it had accumulated a debt of N36.9 million.
Ensuring a well-maintained operation, the SSTA City Service Scheme operates on a precise schedule, active from 6 a.m to 6 p.m. At the end of each 12-hour shift, the buses are returned to the SSTA parking lot at the agency’s headquarters, where they undergo daily checks. “As part of a sustainability measure to ensure the safety [of passengers] and record the activity of the drivers, all of them submit both the vehicles and their earnings to the operations department daily,” Ahmad Junaid, the operations manager, noted.
To ensure Sokoto’s City Service Scheme runs seamlessly, the state government has taken on the responsibilities, such as servicing the vehicles, and driver and management staff salaries. As a result, the drivers have been freed from the burdens of servicing and fuelling the vehicles, allowing them to focus solely on their primary duty of transporting passengers with efficiency.
Alhaji Gambo, a driver and one of the mechanics at SSTA, emphasised the importance of regular vehicle maintenance, explaining that each vehicle undergoes servicing after a trip of 500 kilometres to ensure its longevity. While he declined to disclose his salary, he expressed gratitude for the City Service Scheme and how it transformed his life. Prior to the scheme, he served as a conductor for SSTA, but the initiative gave him the opportunity to become a driver, greatly improving his earnings and enabling him to better provide for his family.
“I was a truck owner before and I drove it as well sometimes but I lost my truck to an accident which pushed me to the SSTA garage to hustle to feed my family, and I was allowed to earn again.”
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Students benefit too
For Anas Abdulrahman, a student of agriculture education at the College of Education, the cost of transportation through motorcycles and tricycles is a significant burden. As a result, Abdulrahman’s daily commute to and from his home in Arkilla, a suburb of Sokoto, consumed a big portion of his budget, even exceeding the amount he allocated for food.
While Abdulrahman acknowledged that the City Service Schemes’ buses might take longer, the savings they offered were well worth it. Priorly, Abdulrahman has had to shell out an exorbitant ₦2,500 daily on transportation. However, despite the delays, the choice was clear: for a student on a budget, saving ₦2,100 per day after paying only ₦400 was transformative.
Abdulrahman also pointed out a drawback of the bus system. Its adherence to designated bus stops means that some smaller streets and neighbourhoods might be left out of the coverage, forcing passengers to walk for a certain distance or board a motorbike to reach a nearby bus stop.
“It’s unlike the bikes or motorcycles that can take you anywhere you want, the buses have their bus stops and the time they operate, they aren’t like the regular taxis,” Abdulrahman told The SolutionsPaper. “The positive part of this car is the comfort of the vehicle. For someone like me, my father doesn’t have a car and I have never entered a car with an air conditioner. My first experience of that was on the buses.”
Credits
Editing: Zubaida Baba Ibrahim
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This story was published in partnership with Nigeria Health Watch through the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems. __________________________________________________________
Muritala Abdullahi is a dedicated journalist known for uncovering solutions within complex stories, inspiring change and fostering hope through impactful, global narratives.