Information reaching 247ureports.com is to go by then guarantors to the Bayelsa State stimulus scheme are in trouble as A. A. Rescue Limited is set for the arrest of those who guaranteed buses and cabs met for the stimulus scheme which the government put in place to alleviate the plight of transportation difficulty experience in the State will find their way before police.
Going by the memory lane, October 2010, the Bayelsa State stimulus scheme was introduced to the people of the State. It was learnt that the scheme is an economic intervention, aimed at stimulating the local economy, by empowering the people so also to ease the transportation problems of commuters.
The scheme is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the government of Bayelsa State and A. A. Rescue Limited. Since the creation of the State in October 1st 1996, the transport system has been a source of worries to successive administrations.
The scheme was introduced by the last administration of Chief Timipre Sylva to tackled the hydra headed transport problem with the introduction of Bayelsa Stimulus Buses Scheme under Public Private Partnership with A. A. Rescue Limited which is a corporate body to operate with facilities of over two hundred Buses and Cars put on the road to take care of the transport problem in the State.
Contrary to an earlier focus by the government to solve transport difficulty in the state, it was gathered that the vehicles were given to indigenes especially those engaged in the land transport sector on hire-purchase basis, with well known guarantor agreement.
As learnt by this reporter the allotee were meant to make weekly installment payment but ironically some of the allotee bolted away with the vehicles after painting them in various colour best known to them, thereby defacing the original colour of the vehicles and depriving the State government, A. A. Rescue Limited from getting accruable revenue as well as identifying such vehicles from the road.
It also revealed that some of the vehicles, chassis and engine numbers had been altered as private cars and are engaged in private transportation which has made A. A. Rescue good intention to ameliorate the sufferings of the people in that sector more complex.
When this reporter contacted one of the management official said the beneficiaries of the magnanimity who deliberately abused the privileges will be held responsible by their guarantors who will be arrested any moment from now and be prosecuted. It was reliably gathered that some House of Assembly members who stands as third party and equally benefited from the scheme are lobbying not to be arrested by the management of A.A. Rescue.
When this reporter call on an assembly member who also partake in the process and deface his bus to personal use said he will collaborate with A.A Rescue to resolve the issue at hand and pleased not to be mentioned on the website.
“We are poised to recover all government vehicles and defaulting beneficiaries and their guarantors would be made to face the law. The security agencies are working with us to monitor and track down those who have defaulted by converting the vehicles to private use.
Documents are been collated now for those who signed as guarantors with a view of recovering the vehicles”, A. A. Rescue official said.
