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Amb Musa Muhammed: Demonstrating relevance of RTEAN in national devt

I n October 2020, Hon. Justice O. Y. Anuwe of the National Industrial Court resolved the leadership crisis of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and declared Kano State-born Amb. Musa Muhammed (Maitokobi) as the Executive National President of RTEAN.

This marked a new beginning for RTEAN which is a registered trade union that represents the interest of all employers in the road transport sector. RTEAN is the parent umbrella of all road transport unions and associations in Nigeria; and it is backed by statute. Amb. Musa Muhammed, who has been rightly described as a man of peace by the Trade Union Congress (TUC), National President, Quadri Olaleye, hit the ground running reconciling the former factions into one indivisible RTEAN family. Amb. Musa Muhammed set the now united and strong RTEAN on a trajectory of positive reformation necessary to enable the union to contribute her quota into national development. Order, due process and documentation were introduced in the day-to-day conduct of internal and external businesses of RTEAN.

These ensured accountability, checks and balances and gave members the opportunity to hold their officers to account for actions and decisions they take in office. Assured of due process and accountability, the confidence of the union members in the administration of Maitokobi increased.

With the euphoria for these giant administrative leaps still in the air, Alhaji Musa Muhammed whose eyes seemed to be focused on wholesome transformation and reinvigoration of RTEAN would not rest on his oars. He introduced an open door policy which stands out the Maitokobi administration in RTEAN as the most transparent in the history of transport sector trade unionism in the black man’s world. With this positive calibration of his administration and a management team comprising loyal and dedicated lieutenants like Comrade Abubakar Bishara (Deputy National President Administration); Comrade Sadiq (Deputy National President Operations); Comrade Yusufu Adeniyi (Secretary- General); among others; and diplomatic disciples like Comrade Henry Ugwu and other worthy aides at national, zonal and state levels, Alhaji Musa Muhammed was set to fully demonstrate the relevance of RTEAN, a foremost trade union, in national development through offers of wealth creation and human capital development opportunities to RTEAN members; and also the offer of improved transportation services and empowerment to the Nigerian citizenry as well as making meaningful contributions to the Nigerian economy.

The Maitokobi administration has reformed the quality of services given to travellers by RTEAN members by training the members on dignifying, diplomatic, and diligent conduct as they service road transport users who rely on their services to run their daily businesses, attend to their respective jobs or run their social engagements and sundry errands.

Seminars and workshops on safe-driving are periodically organised for drivers employed by RTEAN. This has marked out RTEAN as the most organised and disciplined road transport trade union where respect for the rights of the human person is highly regarded and protected. To enforce gender-sensitivity, Maitokobi created a women’s wing of RTEAN. To discharge her corporate social responsibility to innumerable passengers who make use of RTEAN facilities in their trips across the nation the Road Transport Employers Association under the superintendence of Alhaji Musa Muhammad introduced the Travellers Accident Insurance Scheme (TAIS) in May 2021.

While launching the Scheme, Alhaji Musa Muhammad stated that: “The scheme was conceived when we discovered that some accident victims die just because they could not afford hospital bill deposits when taken to the nearest hospital from the scene of the accident. As a result, the Association decided to offset at least the initial hospital bill before the victims’ relatives come to their rescue.”

RTEAN is working hard to establish an electronic passenger manifest system to make the Travellers Accident Insurance Scheme work effectively. Unrelenting Maitokobi, a fully detribalized Nigerian bent on etching his name and the name of RTEAN with gold on the annals of history moved forward to give RTEAN a befitting permanent address. In 2022, the honourable Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, inaugurated a modern architectural masterpiece built by the Amb.

Musa Muhammad administration as permanent headquarters of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria in Wuse Zone 5, within the heartland of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Amidst all these achievements, Amb. Musa Muhammed and his management team have continued to pursue the mandates of RTEAN which includes the sustenance of social life interdependence, job creation, reinvigoration of the transportation sector and contributions to national economic development.

RTEAN, under Amb. Musa Muhammed has continued to support the Federal Government of Nigeria in the campaign for a healthy environment through the encouragement of the use of CNG, LNG and other environment-friendly sources of energy. Recently, CNG and LNG buses were commissioned by Maitokobi. It is trite that in less than two years, Amb. Musa Mohammed has brought RTEAN up to a level of relevance in national development which is unprecedented in the history of the trade union. Amb. Musa Mohammed deserves every support and encouragement to do more.

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