Over N16billion of Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) funds released by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2012 for the Public Mass Transit Revolving Fund (PMTF) was squandered, the International Centre for Investigative Reporting icirnigeria.org has found.

The fund, administered as a revolving loan by The Infrastructure Bank (TIB) was given out in form of Mass Transit Vehicles to 31 beneficiaries, mostly commercial transport operators. A total of 1,179 vehicles were released to the beneficiaries under the scheme, with a repayment plan covering four years.

But four years after the vehicles were disbursed, only two of the beneficiaries-ABC Transport PLC and Young Shall Grow Transport Limited, have fully repaid their loans. Most of the other beneficiaries are yet to pay back as stipulated in the contractual agreements signed between them and the TIB.

The bank lists as “chronic defaulters 15 companies and organizations, owing a total of N4,586,088,671.63 as at December 2015. That figure would have gone up as at the time of filing this report.

The loan defaulters include National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), which got N2.3 billion; Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), N403,487,239; Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), N370,738,460; Greenline Bus, N370,500,000; Global Ginikana, N295,290,190 and Classic Link Express, N123,500,000.

Those familiar with the disbursement say the Jonathan administration gave out the loans largely as political patronage, with many of the recipient believing that they were actually helping the government out of the ditch it ran into after the fuel subsidy protests of January 2012.

Investigations by the icirnigeria.org revealed that the scheme was compromised by stakeholders, including the beneficiaries, TIB and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).

Most of the beneficiaries who defaulted in loan repayment cited supply of poor quality vehicles by TIB as major reason for their inability to pay back. While the beneficiaries requested Toyota, Mercedes and Ashley Leyland high capacity buses, they were supplied Hyundai and IVM Innoson vehicles, which they said is unsuitable for commercial use.

Unlike Mercedez, Leyland and Toyota vehicles, the loan defaulters claim spare parts for Hyundai and Innoson vehicles are also not easily available in the country, a situation that forced many of the beneficiaries to park the vehicles less than a year after delivery.

Najim Yasin, National President of NURTW, said the organization rejected the vehicles provided by TIB but was persuaded to take them as a show of support to the Jonathan administration which was then facing a debilitating country-wide workers strike over the cut in fuel subsidy.

Mr. Yasin said of the 234 mass transit buses given to the NURTW, less than 65 were Toyota vehicles, the others were Hyundai and Innoson buses that broke down within the first month of operation.

Communications between the NURTW and TIB show that the organization complained about the poor quality of the vehicles and the fact that there were no spare parts to fix those that broke down.

Mr. Yasin said the complaints were ignored by TIB.

In a letter dated May 22, 2012, the NURTW wrote to TIB to reject all the Hyundai and Innoson buses given to it by the bank, claiming that they were not good for transportation business.

Also, in a reply to a letter from the TIB for settlement of the N4.7 billion loan given to NURTW dated July1, 2015, the NURTW wrote: “We reiterate the fact that our good intentions to defray the loan have been hampered and challenged by the fact that these vehicles are mostly grounded due to their inferior and sub-standard qualities. Others are accidented, and despite the fact that we have sent several claims for insurance cover/payment on the buses, these claims have not been paid by the consortium of insurance companies solely appointed by you.”

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