Luxury Bus Transporters Give Nonso Ubajaka-led Ex-Co Fresh Mandate

Bennett  Oghifo

In what was applauded as a positive and remarkable development, members of the Association of Luxury Bus Owners of Nigeria (ALBON), on Thursday, rewarded the sterling performance of their national leaders with a fresh term of two years.

ALBON current executive council, led by Mr. Nonso Ubajaka, was endorsed for a fresh term by members of the umbrella body of long distance road transport owners at their 9th biennial meeting held in Jibowu, Lagos.

With ballot papers on the table in readiness for an election to be presided over by the Chairman of Dan Dollars Motors, Chief Dan Okemuo, the meeting rather reached a consensus that voting was unnecessary, because the executive committee members had performed so well in the past two years, that they deserved to carry on.

One after another, members commended the ALBON leadership for piloting the affairs of the association very well.

Sir Okemuo, for instance, disclosed that he had been monitoring the performance of the executive, which, according to him, was satisfactory.

He, however, noted that some critical issues had been raised at the meeting that would need the quality leadership so far exhibited by the Ubajaka executive to deal with.

The Dan Dollars Chairman appealed to the luxury bus owners to continue supporting the executive members to enable them tackle the numerous tasks ahead.

Chief Boniface Nwachukwu of Bonny Way Motors Ltd, as well as Chief Sebastine Udemba of Chimezie Motors, spoke in the same manner, lauding the national executive members for living up to expectations.

Three Board of Trustees members present at the meeting, namely the Chairman, Gobison Motors, Chief Godfrey Obi, Chief Udemba, and Chief Okemuo, were members of the electoral panel.

But, following an unopposed motion by J. C Ezeofor, for the ExCo to serve another term without recourse to an election which was supported by another member, and sealed with an adoption by all, the meeting erupted into an ovation for the leaders, who were warmly congratulated by participant.

Returned unopposed with Ubajaka are: 1st Vice president, Prince Samuel Ezeh; 2nd Mr. Obiora Egwim; Honorary Secretary, Frank Nneji; Treasurer, Chijoke Ojukwu; and Financial Secretary, Peter Obi.

In his acceptance remarks on behalf of the Ex-Co, Mr. Nonso Ubajaka, thanked members for finding him and his team worthy of a renewed mandate, promising that they would continue to protect the interest the association.

He particularly expressed gratitude to the members of the Board of Trustees whose encouragement, according to him, had further motivated them to do their best in the new tenure..

“By re-electing us, you have just told us that more work needed to be done and you will not be disappointed. I am assuring you that we will continue to work until our organisation will favourably compete with other organisations,”  the President pledged.

Earlier before the executive committee was dissolved and returned, Ubajaka had presided over deliberations on the contentious issue of the ban on ‘attachment ‘ seats  {the admission of extra passengers beyond the number of seats provided for by the bus builders}.

While some contributors alleged that carrying extra passengers, sometimes without the knowledge of the transport firms’ management, is an invitation to criminality apart from impairing return on investment, others, mainly the smaller operators, spoke in favour.

The representative of the Young Shall Grow Motors, for instance announced that not only are ‘attachment’ seats prohibited by the management, offenders pay a penalty if N200, 000.

However, the meeting voted to retain the ban and the fine of N100, 000.

Ubajaka, who is the Managing Director of Izu Chukwu Transport Ltd, was elected for the first term in August, 2021, along with the current executive members.