By Mu’azu Hassan

The Katsina State Transport Authority is the biggest transport agency that also has the largest number of vehicles in the history of northern Nigeria. The agency manages the vehicles that the Katsina government bought and those bought by businessmen from across Nigeria and given to the agency by offering cheap transportation services.

The agency was established in 1987 when Katsina became a state.

However, the authority’s work stopped for some years from 1989 to 1991.

In 1992, the first civilian governor, Alhaji Saidu Barda, revived the agency when Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari was the commissioner of Works and Transport in the state. (Masari was the governor of Katsina from 2015 to 2023)

Under Masari’s leadership, the structure of the agency was changed again and a law was signed by the Katsina State legislature, and new cars were given to the agency. Since then, its operations has continued until the return of civilian rule in 1999.

The Governor of Katsina at the time, the late Umaru Musa Yar-Adua, enhanced the operations of the agency by appointing hardworking persons as General Managers, among them was Alhaji Hadi Sirika who became a Senator and later Minister during the Buhari administration.

During the tenure of Barrister Ibrahim Shema, he appointed dedicated General Managers such as Alhaji Bashir Gambo Saulawa (now the Commissioner of Health, Katsina State). The former governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, also took giant strides that upgraded the operations of KTSTA such as the purchase of note fleet of cars and the refurbishment of dilapitated ones to fully revive the agency.

In 2021, the law that established the agency was amended to accommodate vehicles from private individuals, organizations and corporate bodies. The administration also built stations for KTSTA in Malumfashi, Funtua and other important junctions.

Now the agency has more than two hundred vehicles that are operating all over the federation, and more than a hundred vehicles operating  within Katsina State.