Senate declares state of emergency on roads

‎The Nigerian senate on Wednesday declared a state of emergency on road infrastructure in the country.

It observed with sadness, the loss of lives resulting from the bad state of the roads across the country.

Consequently, it urged the federal government to undertake the immediate rehabilitation and dualisation of major highways and interstate roads across the country.

The senate also called on the federal government to reorganise the ministry of works and its agencies, especially the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) with a view to re-positioning it for the onerous task of rebuilding the roads.

In a motion sponsored by 90 senators and moved by Dino Melaye (Kogi West)‎, the lawmakers resolved to direct its ad hoc committee on works, to embark on an audit of all road projects across country with a view to producing raw data for necessary legislative action.

The senate observed that the entire road infrastructure in Nigeria was near collaspe, and that trillions of naira had been spent on road construction and rehabilitation since democracy returned to the country in 1999, with minimal or no impact on the roads.

It therefore urged the federal government, through the ministry of works, to look for additional ways of funding road projects in the country.

Some of the roads it noted that needed immediate attention were Lagos-Shagamu-Ibadan expressway, AYA-Nyanya-Mararaba road‎, Maiduguri-Monguno-Marte-Dikwa road, Makurdi- Otukpo road, and Benin-Ore-Shagamu road.

After debate on Melaye’s motion, the senate roundly rejected motions ca‎lling for the return of toll gates on all federal roads.

Some of the lawmakers who sponsored the motion include Ben Murray-Bruce (Bayelsa), Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara), Ahmed Lawan (Yobe) Shehu Sani (Kaduna), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Jonah Jang (Plateau), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) and Andy Uba (Anambra).