Peace Mass Transit: A grain of mustard seed

The Holy Bible says “the Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds… But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches…”, Matthew 13:31-32. Wikipedia says a mustard tree can grow as tall as 40 feet in the best soil and weather conditions, and flourishes most in blazing sunny situations.

Peace Mass Transit (PMT) Limited, widely acknowledged as the leader in the mini- bus transport sector in the Nigeria road transport industry, has all the characteristics of the mustard seed in all material particular, as lawyers would say.

It has grown from a lowly two- bus fleet in 1994 to a massive, yet unmatched active 3,000-bus fleet, with many subsidiary firms, all of which now constitute the humongous Peace Group.

And like the mustard seed which flourishes better under the harsh sunny weather, the growth of Peace Mass Transit has not happened under any specially favorable or challenge-free conditions. The progression has been a product of an ethical, faithful application of the best humanist business principles, by a steady crop of dedicated staff, with the ‘man with the dream’, Evangelist Samuel Maduka Onyishi, MON, at the helm of affairs.

Dr. Onyishi, a devout christain, maintains Peace Mass as his own ‘ministry’, which he has a responsibility to run with a discernible ‘human face’. PMT is a testimony to the fact that even businesses which are ethical, can also prosper.

Peace Mass Transit prides itself as the first mini-bus company in Nigeria to ‘decree’ 3 passengers per row, instead of the hitherto conventional 4. Passengers neverhad it so good! Before the advent of Peace Mass, it was common to behold fully loaded passenger buses, with open booths and pieces of luggage hangingprecariously behind. Peace Mass, by practicaldemonstration showed that the passenger was worth so much more, and deserves far much more! The speed limiter which has been incorporated into the nation’s public transport policy was pioneered by Peace Mass Transit and launched by the then Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety, Chief Osita Chidoka, at Peace Mass Central Workshop, Emene Enugu, in 2009.

“Money can buy you bed, but not sleep”, is a famous Peace Mass saying, acknowledging the supremacy of God in the life of the human or non-human person. Peace Mass Transit’s amazing growth over the years couldn’t have occurred if the Almighty God did not decree it shall be so! So at PMT, the place of God is incontestable; He is always the number one. If not God, how could two mini-buses turn to 3000-active fleet at the 22nd anniversary in 2016? And staff strength of just two, Onyishi and wife, Emilia, multiply to 4000 jobs within the same period?

Peace Mass Transit, in two decades of uninterrupted business operations, has over 65 bus terminals across the country, and moves over 30,000 loyal passengerson daily basis. This staggering operational statistics sets it far apart from other industry players before it, and even those sharing the same business space with it, in the present day.

At inception in 1994, PMT had a paltry paid-up capital of #100, 000, has, by the uncommon Grace from Godgrown into a multi billion conglomerate as at December 31, 2017.

The company, whose vision is “to be the number one transport company in Nigeria with global recognition,” is present in over 65 locations across Nigeria. It prides itself in building permanent, sustainable structures for steady development and owns 90% of its bus terminals.

Peace Mass Transit has the largest, most highly equipped, and arguably the best professionally managed maintenance workshop ever owned by a transport company in the country, in recorded history.

Peace Mass has, over the years, given rise to several other subsidiary companies, which now constitute the Peace Group, including Peace Petroleum Nigeria Limited, Peace Micro Finance Bank Ltd, Peace Mass Logistics (PML) Ltd, Peace Bureau De Change, PMT Beijing Trade Co. China Ltd, Peace Capital Market Ltd (A member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange), FontonInternational Ltd (Auto Sales), Peace Printing Press, Peace Quick Response Insurance Brokers Ltd and lately, Peace Automobile Assembly Plant. The Peace Automobile Assembly Plant which commercialoperations in August 2016.

The Vehicle Assembly Plant has the capacity to produce 1,000 units of Peace Hiace buses yearly, having been conceived with the best ChineseTechnology, in modern day. The company uses, at least, 10% local content, while the foreign/imported components are brought in as Semi-Knocked Down(SKD) parts.

The Peace Assembly Plant, which took 12 months to be fully set up, rolled out its first products in January2017, whose entire stock was bought up by the PMT, the transport arm.

Peace Mass Transit buying up the entire production was both strategic and desirable. The performance of the new products would have to be gauged in a dispassionate manner, using returns/data generated from reliable, assured sources. And since PMT buy so much of other brands, especially Toyota to which PMT is a perennial best customer, it could turn out to be the biggest customer of the Peace Assembly Plant, being its own subsidiary.

Instructively, the feedback from the use of the Peace Hiace has been entirely positive and encouraging. It has justified the investment in the plant as one well made.

Special, distinguishing features of the Peace Hiace, Include, but not limited to the EBS/ABS brake system combined, Digital Dashboard, factory- fitted speedlimiter; Quality DVD player and TVS for customers’ non-stop entertainment, multiple charging points for GSM users and luggage control. The bus is fully air conditioned with seat belts for all passengers.

Board and Management: the Peace Group has a five-man Board of Directors over-seeing its affairs, chaired by founder, Dr. Samuel Maduka Onyishi who directs the affairs of the company on full time basis as Managing Director/CEO.

The company has four directorates namely Operations, Maintenance, Support Services and Subsidiaries, each headed by an Executive Director (ED).

The ten departments of the company include Maintenance, Operations, Financial Control, Audit, ICT, Customer Service/Media & publicity, Public Administration, Purchasing and Legal/Secretariat, Human Resources, Research/Development, Health, Security and Environment (HSE).