In an exclusive interview with Ibadan City ANNOUNCER reporters, Dr. Dikko Salami, Chairman and Sole Administrator of the Oyo State Pacesetter Transport Service (PTS), shared his insights on running a major metropolitan transport system. Introducing himself as a politician, businessman, and chartered accountant, Salami detailed the experience required to manage the Oyo State government’s commercial transportation operations in Ibadan and across the Southwest. He openly addressed the controversial Federal Government-introduced CNG buses, avoiding political evasion and responding extensively on the matter, despite the differing political parties in power at the state and federal levels.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: Can you give us an overview of your role and what you’ve done (achievements) since you became the Chairman
Dr Dikko Salami: My name is Dr Dikko Salami, Chairman and Sole Administrator of Oyo State Pacesetter Transport Service. I was appointed on the 24th of July 2023. I resumed July 25th, the second day. When I came in, I could find only five buses working and we have backlogs of pensions and gratuity dated far back as 1994. We have debt of 150 million FIRS tax and backlog of promotions dated 2009, an unstructured organization. Immediately we resumed, we began working and we revived 30 buses and brought them to use in Ibadan metropolis. August 25, 2023, Mr. Governor initiated a program called Safer Economic Recovery whereby we convey people on 50% rate compared to the commercial buses, we also extended our services beyond Ibadan metropolis to places like Saki, Oyo, Iseyin, Ìbàràpá. Between July 25th and August 5th 2023 when the governor broadcasted that SAFER should be used, we already have about 46 vehicles that we have provided in Ibadan metropolis; 16 were deployed to Iseyin, saki, ìbàràpá, Oyo and Ogbomosho. While moving forward, we have cleared gratuity and pensions up to 2013, 150million Naira debt has been cleared.
The backlogs of promotions have been cleared with the cost implications approved. So far, we have structured Pacesetter Transport Services where we have Directors, Managers, Head of Units, Assistant Head of Units, etc. things are now in better shape. We have increased our buses from five to 101 buses, kudos to the Federal Government who also offered us 20 CNG buses two months ago. We have 81 buses from the state government and 20 from the federal government. Now, we have 101 buses in our fleet. Before, we were making about #200,000 daily because of theft and corruption, but we have introduced the card payment system as at September 24, 2023 and we distributed about 34,000 cards for free for the first one month with the governor’s approval, this is to allow people embrace the fact that we are not going to collect cash anymore, it has to be card payment. We have over 500,000 subscribers on our card system across the state. We have trackers on all our buses, with CCTV cameras and free Wi-Fi to ensure there’s connectivity on all our buses. The trackers and cameras serve as a security measure to look after our people. Recently, we launched our interstate movement and logistics arm. Whereby, we are hoping to expand to the entire southwest and Kwara state. We have the thought of extending to other southeastern states, but we also thought that instead of extending to those states, why not cover the whole Southwest states first. And my next plan is to ensure that this interstate transport will reach the whole of Southwest and Abuja before the end of first quarter, 2025. After the southwest and Abuja are covered, we can now extend to other states. We are also looking at the logistics arm of it where we will have our students move their goods and luggage to their state under 2-3 days. This is because our buses are 14-seater and don’t allow much load in the bus with other passengers.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: You spoke about clearing debt and paying pension, does the state government support the company financially?
Dr Dikko Salami: Let me say this categorically, the pacesetter transport service is a limited liability company that is supposed to run self-sufficiently. Even though pacesetter transport service is fully owned by the Oyo state government, it is an agency. I heard that the state government was paying salaries to help the company before, but since I have been the chairman, I have been doing that on my own, I have been paying salaries as at when due, pensions and gratuity has been fully paid. But I said in August last year, the governor introduced SAFER into what we were doing, and we were tasked to commute people at 50% basis, the government injected 77million Naira in the company monthly, to commute 20,000 people for free.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: We witnessed the launching of interstate CNG buses, I want to ask, what inspired the launching of these interstate CNG buses?
Dr Dikko Salami: The present Federal Government led administration removed fuel subsidy which led to an increased hardship on the citizen. CNG gas is abundant in the 36 states of the federation and is a better alternative to petroleum. It is cheaper, cleaner and more available. That is why our dear governor has partnered with shell to make available plants in Oyo state whereby we have 200cubic meter of gas underneath Oyo state soil. If that can be tapped, that means in the next 5-10 years from now, gas will be readily available for everyone. One liter of this gas is #230, compared to buying petrol for 1,100 or Diesel for #1,400, there is a difference. Also, what inspired us to launch the interstate movement, well, I am not the only state that received the CNG buses, there are other states that also did, but for us, we have been able to maximize our intra city and inter City operations in Oyo state. We have 81 fleets of buses that commute 30,000 people per day, why do I need to augment 20 CNG buses into what has been maximized already. So, the best approach is to extend the gesture towards other states. Also, commuting people from point A to point B adds value to the economy, and that’s the motivation behind launching the interstate movement.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: You are more operational with buses for inter-City and intra city, are you planning to go into taxis for operation within or outside the city?
Dr Dikko Salami: Well, I don’t like talking about the future even if we have plans like that, I wouldn’t like talking about it. I prefer that when I have achieved something, that is when I should talk about it. Well, we have plans. If you look at Ibadan metropolis, we have Buses, Bolts, and Micras, we’ve been looking at a way to change the Outlook of Oyo state generally, that is why we are putting our buses into operation to see Ibadan in other light. Although they say Lagos is a commercial city but trust me, Ibadan is so indigenous and so central that anywhere you want to go, within Nigeria, you must touch down in Ibadan. We are looking forward to seeing that in the future we also will extend our services to taxis and even taxis will ensure that we have airport taxis, train stations and others that people coming into Ibadan can make use of. That is a futuristic approach.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: As we all Know Ibadan is a very big city, and people are complaining about why they are not using the popular and more accessible terminal closer to Lagos Ibadan express way, but your TCTC office here is the take off point for this interstate, what do you see to that sir?
Dr Dikko Salami: Those terminals that were built by the state government, led by his Excellency, Gov. Seyi Makinde is under the prerogative of Pacesetter Transport Service but you know that anything that has to do with the government is an essential commodity for everybody, so NURTW and other necessary competitors are liable to use that place and as a private entity under the Oyo State government, we prefer not to have an independent right to whatever we do. And truly, the overall of our service is much superb than what others are giving. We give cheaper transport, comfort and connectivity to people all at their peak. So, putting our buses side by side with them is more like inviting thieves to come rob us. So, it is just best that everyone is at their place.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: Maintenance has been the biggest challenge for transport service, what have you been doing about maintenance, how do you go about maintaining these buses?
Dr Dikko Salami: one of the major challenges we have in this country is lack of maintenance and over time, Pace Setter Transport Service has ensured that we maintain our buses. I won’t like to go into the operational aspect but trust me, we are ejecting more than what we earn just to maintain our buses.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: What is the life span of your buses before general maintenance and replacement?
A: Well, I wouldn’t say what our replacement value is right now, what I can say is that we ensure that every 3 months, we ensure that we do general overhauls for all our buses.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: How do you ensure that theft and corruption is curbed especially on the buses?
Dr Dikko Salami. There is no system that is perfect, we are just managing. But trust me when I say this that before we introduced the card payment system, things were worse. There is no way you will run the cash payment system and there won’t be issues because you are at the mercies of the drivers and supervisors and the likes. But with card payment system and the software introduced, even if you tell me that you didn’t commute enough people, we can check on our back-end to see if what you say is true. For instance, you are to commute 500 people, and you said at the end of the day that you commute only 300, we can confirm to see if what you say is true.
Also, the camera gives real time information. As it is happening, we are seeing it live. We can record these atrocities committed by our people and when they face panels, we can play it on. Because truly, there is no way that there won’t be all these errors and anomalies that you mentioned, but as we see that, we put the offender on suspension.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: How does Pacesetter Transport handle passengers or complaints?
Dr Dikko Salami: I am happy that we have the head of customer service here with us. Their response time is 24hrs and they have been responding swiftly to all customers even on WhatsApp. Our quick response to accidents on the road is one minute. We respond swiftly to every challenge. This is because this is the only means of making our money. We respond swiftly as soon as possible.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: Is there provision for discount for students or disabled?
Dr Dikko Salami: Yes, we have, but in this kind of volatile environment, it is hard sometimes to enact all these kinds of policies. But for the aged and students, it is free. Also, on our routes within Ibadan, we commute about 10 students for free per route. Going forward, we are looking for a way of deploying campus shuttle on every route, just for students alone. But we are looking for middle-sized buses, and I hope future budget will be able to accommodate that.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: What motivates you in leading this organization?
Dr Dikko Salami: Let me just say that the topmost motivation is the executive governor of the state. For everything he has been doing so far since he assumed the office in 2019 till date, secondly, I am a chartered accountant, a very disciplined man. I am a builder and not a destroyer and I love challenges a lot. I do my best, I’m not saying I am perfect or better than anybody but trust me when I say the way we found pace setter transport service and the way we leave it, it has an excellent pace. Also, I am grateful for having an excellent team that are ready to cooperate with us, the directors, managers, head of units and all other staffs who are contributing one way of the other to ensure that we have a full and perfect operation.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: What do you have to say to the people of Oyo state?
Dr Dikko Salami: For the people of Oyo state, they should keep supporting the leadership of our dear Gov. Engr Seyi Makinde and supporting Pacesetter Transport Service. If you see something bad on our buses, say something. We want to thank all our commuters and everyone for commuting with us.
And for the controversies out there on the safety of CNG gases, well, let me just say this in lay man term, if you are sick or have a pregnant wife and go to a quack doctor, you know the result of this but if you go to a professional doctor, you also know the result. One of the problems we are having as a country is that we love to consult substandard firms to convert for us. There is a difference between cooking gas and compressed natural gas. Cooking gas is used at home and CNG is used for vehicles. The cylinder that must be used with CNG is also different, it must have fiber that cools down the temperature no matter how hot the weather gets. Also, it also depends on the company that wants to convert for you. CNG is safer, cleaner and cheaper. It is the way for Nigeria to go.
IbCity ANNOUNCER: Are there experts or mechanics on these CNG buses that can attend to the buses if any issue comes up?
Dr Dikko Salami. Compared to used buses that break down with brand new buses, you have 3 to 5 years’ life expectancy. But in case of necessities, we have partnership with a few mechanics’ outlets that have understanding about CNG. We are also planning on having a staff training next year whereby we will train our mechanics on how to use CNG and all that. We have trained all our drivers well and we have ensured that drivers who don’t pass the test are not allowed. It is only on merit that anyone is allowed to work with us. We dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s as related to safety.
IbCity ANNOUNCER. would you like to commend the Federal government for donating the CNG buses and again, in the future, would you like to venture into politics?
Dr Dikko Salami. I am a politician, I have contested and, in the future, will still contest again. I am a businessman myself and I have found myself to be appointed by the Oyo state government to manage a business under the Oyo state government. So, I am only telling you that this company is private, I am a politician.
I also thank the Federal Government for introducing this CNG initiative, I also will advise the federal government to allow NNPC to adopt CNG station in their station across the six Geopolitical.
