1 week ago
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LAGOS – ABC Transport Plc has faced series of challenges within its 32 years of operations, but remained in business because of prudent management.
Mr. Jude Nneji, the Managing Director of ABC Transport, in an interview with journalists in Lagos yesterday, flashed back to the road the company had travelled since inception in 1993, declaring that there had been some daunting challenges on its way.
Nneji emphasised that through a combination of astute management and support of loyal customers, the company was able to navigate the challenges to stay afloat and achieve some milestones that defined the road transport industry today.
He maintained that it was not easy for a company to survive three decades of services in Nigeria, stressing that the company was currently focusing on rebranding and consolidating on the achievements of the past three decades.
He said: “We are doing a lot of renewal; the logo change, the rebranding, and re-fleeting, among other things, just to move on to the next stage.
“We are consolidating the divisions we have. For now, focus is on our haulage and cargo divisions, as well as our driver Training Academy (DTA), which is turning a lot of graduates into the professional driver market.”
The ABC Transport PLC began on February 13, 1993, when five mini buses emblazoned with the ABC Transport reindeer logo, departed Owerri on a maiden trip to Lagos.
The history-making Toyota Hiace buses were procured with a loan from Diamond Bank (now Access Bank) by Mr. Frank Nneji, who had the dream of delivering world-class transportation services to Nigerians.
As the founder of ABC Transport, Frank Nneji recalled in a recent interview that it was the unpleasant personal experience he had during a trip from Owerri to Lagos on board a bus, which finally broke down at Ore, that led to the conception of the idea of a modern transport company in 1993.
The objective then, according to him, was to set standards in luxury bus transportation with emphasis on passenger comfort, safety and strict adherence to schedules.
Today, ABC Transport has grown to become a household name in the industry, with a fleet of about 500 vehicles and a network of over 90 locations across the country and in West Africa.
This earned for the company the travellers’ acclaim across the country as the first to introduce air-conditioned coaches with toilet facilities, as well as on-board entertainment featuring video screens and mid-journey refreshment.
One of the innovations introduced by the management in the years following that inaugural trip by the five mini buses, was the ABC Customers’ Forum hitherto unknown to the country’s road transport industry.
At the event which was sustained annually until a few years ago, the management interacted with the customers, and fielded questions, complaints and suggestions on how to improve the company’s services
On July 16, 2004, ABC Transport, introduced Coach West Africa – the ECOWAS region’s first scheduled coach service taking off from Lagos (through Cotonou in Benin Republic, and Lome in Togo) to Accra, Ghana, and back, on board the purpose-built coaches.
Online ticket booking, which has since been embraced by most luxury bus transport operators, was first introduced by ABC Transport in 2007, making it easier for travellers to book their trips and pay from the comfort of their homes and offices.
Also, ABC Transport was the first to establish ultramodern terminals in Nigeria and beyond, with some of them in Lagos, Abuja, Owerri and Port Harcourt.
Over the past 32 years, ABC Transport has achieved numerous milestones, including, of course, the addition of ABC Cargo Express, the logistics and warehousing division; and ABC Hauls, the haulage services arm.
With the recent deployment of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) trucks, to boost its cement haulage capacity at Lafarge Africa Plc’s cement factory, ABC Hauls and Cargo Express account for about 50 percent of ABC Transport PLC operations.
ABC Hauls is one of Lafarge’s major transporters for the distribution of cement around the country.
ABC Cargo Express, which commenced operations also as a division, has now grown to be a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company. This was necessitated by its rapid growth and its ability to focus on the innovations going on in the logistics sector.
Through the cargo division, the company moves hundreds of thousands of packages around West Africa, empowering many businesses with its dedicated e-commerce services.
ABC Transport also has the record of being the first, and so far, the only road transport company to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Along with a seamless succession plan which ensured that the former Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Jude Nneji, took over from Mr. Frank Nneji, as the Managing Director, the company has been enjoying considerable stability, liquidity and ease of management.
In 2012, ABC Transport ventured into auto production with its 50 percent stake in Transit Support Services Ltd (TSS), which is into the assembly of heavy and light duty trucks with its flagship brands as Shacman (including fire trucks etc.), SETRAC CNG buses, as well as Forland Trucks.
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