Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola has dismissed insinuation that a certain section of the country was getting more attention in terms of contracts for repair and construction of federal roads than others.
Speaking at an interview session with newsmen in Abuja, the former Lagos State governor maintained that no geo-political zone had been left behind in roads construction and maintenance and none enjoys special privileges.
He further argued that different climatic conditions, amongst other factors, were responsible for the durability of roads in a certain section of the country compared to others.
He said: “The reason why we are here as a party, as a government and Minister is to project hope not to project risk so I don’t know what you want to say about who has the worst roads. What I in the position to say is that we are not leaving anybody behind. We are doing the best we can to all parts of Nigeria, that is the mandate from Mr President and we’re trying to make sure that we leave nobody behind. “Clearly, you know that Nigeria is a big country, it has different climatic conditions, different soil conditions, there is Savannah part of the country, there is rainforest part of the country, there is the coastal area of the country, there is the desert area of the country, there is the semi-desert area of the country. Therefore, the roads and roads materials will behave differently and that is why you see now we have been changing some of the things we do in different parts. In some places now we are introducing concrete roads.
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“Let me go back to what I said earlier, we have a Federal road network of 35, 000 kilometres and we are repairing about 13, 000 kilometres that tell you clearly that we are repairing the parts that have problems, the parts that don’t have problems are there. We are looking at something like one third (1/3). “
The Minister of Works further attributed the bad shape of roads to the recklessness of individuals in haulage business who park heavy-duty trucks on federal roads with its attendant deleterious effect.
He told newsmen that the federal government was determined to check the abuse of the roads by truck owners and individuals who hawk diesel on the highways.
“So, how do we get the best out of those roads, I think that is the question you didn’t ask. The way to get the best out of these roads is to they said they were abusing them. “We are going to need you to help us do this. There are those who carry food or it’s those who carry petroleum products they must go and get trucks park. Go and look for a place to park your trucks, you can’t add that burden to government. Government is not involved in truck business; the government is responsible to provide a reliable road network. So what do we see as a way of curtailing abuse? There is a part of the road just immediately where the road ends and is called the shoulder, that is where trucks park and that is where the damage to the road starts. It starts in many ways, one of the most notable ones is that where they change oil, that is where they drop diesel. Most of the roads constructed with bitumen and the asphalt, petroleum and diesel are the same products of hydrocarbon. They may do different things, the diesel and the petrol dissolve – they are solvents. So once you start pouring substance containing the components, the roads starts to disintegrate. I plead with you to help carry this message in every language. Those who sell diesel by the roadside are the first people destroying the roads. Those who distil petrol by the roadsides are the first people destroying the roads. Those who park on the shoulders are also the first people destroying the roads. Because once you create that weak point water sink under the road.
” So if people use the roads properly we can get the best out of roads. But the long term is also when we have rail. The Minister of Transportation is making progress there to make our cargo movement to be rail. Of course, the last way is the maintenance of the road – maintenance presupposes that you are using the rail very well and not abusing the road. “