Senate asks Nigerian government to declare state of emergency on federal roads

The Senate on Tuesday asked the federal government to declare a state of emergency on federal roads across Nigeria.

This demand followed a motion raised by Cross River senator, Gershom Bassey, who decried the deplorable state of federal roads in Nigeria.

Mr Bassey informed the Senate that the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has failed to remit the five per cent user charge of fuel pump price to the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) as stipulated in the Act for the rehabilitation of federal roads.

In his contribution, Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu North) said urgent attention is needed especially within the proposed budget cycle.

“And like you prayed that the PPRPRA should release the fund totally provided for FERMA to do its job. The rainy season is just gradually coming to an end and this is the opportunity for FERMA to go and start rehabilitating our roads so that Nigerians can move freely.

“This period is also the time for harvest and in order to ensure that farmers that are in the hinterland get to the appropriate market to get adequate prices for their goods, we have to make sure the roads are properly done.

 

“This is a very important motion moved at the most appropriate time to get the desired attention and I’m standing here lending my support and full weigh to get that being done, knowing fully well that those of us from the South East are the major complainants of the bad roads in this country and we hope that we get the desired attention from FERMA if this motion scales through,” he said.

In his remarks, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said every part of the country suffers from the deplorable state of Nigerian roads.

“So I believe that our committees given this instruction will swing into action and attend to the issue associated with this motion,” he said.

Lawmakers of the upper chamber also mandated its committees on Petroleum, National Planning and FERMA to investigate the alleged non-remittance of funds by the PPPRA for the rehabilitation of roads in the country.

The Senate’s resolution comes a day after the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, declared a state of emergency on Lagos roads and ordered massive repair work on critical highways across the state, beginning from Monday.