Alex Otti: Driving A New Abia With Green Return Of ‘Oriental Line

ERNIE ONWUMERE 

On July 29, 1975, the removal of legendary Dr. Ukpabi Asika as the Administrator of East Central State was celebrated in our morning assembly in school. Not because he failed, but because the Christian Mission had used the pulpit to fight him over the takeover of mission schools by the government. Bishop Godfrey Okoye was relentless in that campaign. As pupils, we clapped. We didn’t understand the bigger picture then.

 

Today, I see and understand better. Asika didn’t take over schools to erase their essence. He took them over to rebuild them after the war, fund them, implement a uniform academic calendar, and pay teachers when the mission couldn’t. That’s why Christ the King College Onitsha, DMGS Onitsha, CIC Enugu, Methodist College Uzuakoli, Aggrey Memorial Arochukwu, Holy Ghost College Owerri and others still bear their original names.
He preserved their identity while giving them a new foundation. Controversial then, visionary now.

That same commitment to the public good in education also showed up on the roads. Reconstruction for Asika wasn’t just classrooms. It was also how a trader got to market, how a student got to school, and how a civil servant got to work with dignity, reflecting a similar but smarter contemporary urban mobility vision being driven by Governor Alex Otti in Abia State.

In 1972, at the height of post-war reconstruction, Dr. Ukpabi Asika rolled out Oriental Line, a fleet of Mercedes-Benz 302 buses painted white with green stripes, with “ORIENTAL LINE” boldly written on the sides. For a region just coming out of war, it was a statement: public transport could be orderly, affordable, and dignified.

For me, it was personal. As a pupil in the 1970s, my happiest moments were long holidays traveling from Enugu to Aba on the Oriental Line. After weeks in school, the bus ride was the real holiday. The high-backed seats were comfortable, the ride was smooth on the Enugu-Onitsha expressway. It felt like luxury, far from the “third class” experience of the “kai-kai” mammy wagon: wooden planks, packed like sardines, dust blowing through torn canvas. Oriental Line had space, order, timetables, and uniformed staff. For a child, the journey itself became part of the joy.

The buses ran fixed routes with fixed fares. Terminals were organised at Onitsha, Enugu, Aba, and Owerri. Drivers and conductors wore uniforms. Students, traders, and workers could plan their movements. People called it “Asika bus” with pride because it worked for the common man.

When Asika left office on July 29, 1975, Oriental Line gradually faded. Maintenance became difficult, funding dropped, and private luxury buses took over. By the 1980s, it lived only in memory and old photographs. But the idea remained: that the government could run mass transit that served the people.

Today, that idea comes alive again in Abia State with a new, smarter fleet of Abia Green Shuttle buses that echo the Electric Vehicle (EV) revolution gaining traction in advanced climes, but still a novelty in Nigeria.

The new Abia Green buses are electric, modern, pollution-free, air-conditioned, cashless-ticketing, and GPS-tracked. They run on electric power, which cuts fuel cost significantly after subsidy removal. Routes connect Umuahia, Aba and other towns, with organised terminals such as the newly commissioned ultramodern Nnenna Oti Umuahia Bus Terminal and Aba Port Harcourt Road. Passengers board properly, buses keep time, and staff are trained to serve.

The vision is simple and direct: make mobility affordable, reliable, healthy, and dignified for Abians. Traders from Ariaria can now reach Umuahia markets without spending all their profit on transport. Students can get to school and back without stress. Workers can get to their offices on time. The buses are part of a broader agenda of road rehabilitation and urban renewal in Abia.

Naturally, older people with a sense of history already refer to them as a revival of the Oriental Line spirit. Not because they copy the old buses, but because they return to the same principle: public transport that puts the people first but in a better, cleaner, smarter way.

But, someone may ask: what’s really the big deal in all of this?
First, it’s a big deal economically. Lower transport cost means more money stays in people’s pockets. More trade, more access to markets, and more opportunities for students and workers are a big deal.

Second, the environmental impact is much healthier for our world. Electric vehicles are cleaner and safer than gas-powered, or diesel-powered vehicles. With electric vehicles, toxic emissions disappear and air quality improves in our cities.

Third, the new bus transit system is socially progressive, inspiring, and empowering. It restores confidence in public service. For decades, many believed government-run buses could not work. Oriental Line proved otherwise in the 1970s. The new electric Abia Green buses are proving it again today.

Of course, the final big deal is sustainability. According to experts, electric vehicles, like the new Abia Green Shuttle buses, have roughly 20 moving parts in their drivetrains compared to the thousands found in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses. EV maintenance costs are said to be typically 30% to 40% lower over their lifespan, largely eliminating oil changes, exhaust systems, and transmission services, while reducing brakes wear through regenerative braking.

Taking on this whole new mobility technology in the Nigerian environment is undoubtedly an audacious step by the Otti administration in the governor’s relentless drive to transform Abia State. Indeed, Abia is now reportedly on course to become the first, fully ring fenced, energy-independent state in Nigeria with a projected 1,200MW generation capacity between Geometric in Osisioma and NDPHC in Alaoji.

Integrated with massive 1.8MW solar-powered grids as charging facilities at each terminal, the new Abia Green Shuttle buses are green in every sense of the word. And with the fleet expected to be expanded to 40 in July and 70 by September this year, the economies of scale and efficiency are guaranteed to confirm Abia State as the pace-setter and pathfinder among states in Nigeria, thanks to the game-changing leadership of Governor Otti.

 

As the Oriental Line ticketing clerk would say then, and the Abia Green Shuttle bus coach would say today: This bus is moving. Come onboard with Alex Otti and let’s ride into this new Abia together.