RIVERS State Governor, Peter Odili, has threatened to arrest and prosecute some beneficiaries of the state’s transport scheme initiated in honour of the late First Lady, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo.
Indication emerged in Port Harcourt yesterday that the governor had already issued notice to the beneficiaries to report with the 150 air-conditioned Peugeot 307 saloon cars today or face arrest.
The Guardian learnt that the governor was disturbed by attempts of some beneficiaries to thwart the essence of the scheme by refusing to put the cars into commercial use.
During the launch of the transport scheme shortly after the demise of Stella last year,
the state government said the cars were to be used as taxis to provide cheap intra-city service for the residents of Port Harcourt and its environs.
But rather than deploy the cars to the roads, the beneficiaries, mainly senior government officials, have chosen to park them in their private homes, thus frustrating the goals of the project.
Of the 200 cars, only 50 were designated as special subsidised taxis for the masses.
A week ago, the state Commissioner for Transport, Emeh Glory Emeh, summoned the beneficiaries to Government House, Port Harcourt, where he asked them to put the cars to commercial use or risk them being recovered.
A source told The Guardian that the failure of the beneficiaries to heed his advice must have prompted Odili’s intervention.
A statement issued yesterday said announced that the governor had directed all beneficiaries of the special taxis to report with them to the State Secretariat by noon today.
“Any beneficiary who fails to show up with the vehicle would be arrested and prosecuted, no matter their status in the society,” he said.