In a bid to alleviate the hardship being suffered by farmers and cooperative societies in Nigeria, the Nigeria Cooperative Acquisition Asset Scheme (ACAAS) is to disburse a total of 2, 000 buses to farmers and cooperatives societies across the country.
Speaking to Blueprint over the weekend in Abuja, the project coordinator, Mr. Olakunle Jeff said ACAAS in conjunction with the federal government is disbursing 2,000 buses to most viable cooperative societies and farmer to ease their transportation problem.
He said the buses will not be giving out free of charge but the beneficiaries will have to pay back for the period of three years, pointing out that the stakeholders were already working out the modalities for the disbursement.
He said farmers will go for cargo vans, stressing that, members of the public will also benefit from the scheme.
The coordinator said the disbursement of the buses would commence as soon as President Muhamadu Buhari fixes the date for the official flag-off.
Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Senator George Akume who is the initiator of the programme, said “when you give out loans to individuals you sometimes have difficulty in recovering it but because the whole cooperative societies are involved in managing the programme, it will be easy to handle. He explained that Nigerian cooperatives have been in existence for decades and have been doing wonderfully well.
Senator Akume said the project would ensure that rural areas have access to transportation facilities, pointing out that “now that there is slight adjustment in fuel pump price, we are trying to do this for the benefit of our people.”
