Senate wants toll gates back on federal roads

‎The senate on Tuesday passed a motion seeking to restore toll gates on all federal roads.

In the motion, Suleiman Nazif, a senator from Bauchi north, who sponsored it, expressed dismay over the state of roads in the country, saying they had become a “national shame and embarrassment”.

He said the re-establishment of toll‎ gates would solve “the nation’s generally dilapidated road networks”.

“Besides revenue generation, the presence of toll gates, which are normally managed by armed security agents, provides a level of safety for road users,” he said.

‎He, therefore, urged the senate to “constitute an ad-hoc committee to carefully study the toll-gate policy toget‎her with other relevant stakeholders on effective and efficient ways to carry out the policy aimed at producing a holistic package to generate adequate funds for road construction and maintenance, and the money realised should be judiciously utilised in order to restore confidence in the masses”.

After a brief debate on the motion, Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president, who presided over the session, called for a voice vote, and the senate voted overwhelmingly for it.

Toll gates on federal roads were removed by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 2004.