Reps seek full release of N25bn for federal roads rehabilitation

The House of Representatives on Tuesday called on the Federal Government to immediately release funds for the rehabilitation of all federal highways across the six geopolitical zones of the Federation.

The resolution was passed following the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Nnolim Nnaji who frowned at the incapacitating of Federal Roads Maintenance Agency in line with Section 7 of FERMA  Act, 2002.

According to the report available to the House, from the total sum of N24,699,470,715 allocated to FERMA for capital projects in the 2019 Appropriation Act, only a few percentage was released so far.

In his lead debate, Hon. Nnaji observed that at the moment, the majority of the roads in the Six Geo-Political Zones are in deplorable conditions, constituting nightmares to travellers.

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“The House is concerned that in the next 30 days, the 2019 festive period would commence as Nigerians would be travelling to their various towns and villages in the Six Geo-Political Zones to celebrate with their families and loved ones.

“The House is worried that over 95% of Nigerians rely on transportation by road since only a few can afford travelling by air and the only functional railway line at the moment is the over-crowded Abuja-Kaduna rail line.

“The House is aware that one of the predicaments of FERMA in fulfilling its statutory mandate of ensuring efficient and effective maintenance of Federal roads is lack of adequate funding.

“The House is also aware that in the Year 2019 Budget, the sum of N24,699,470,715 was allocated to FERMA for capital projects and only a few percentages of the said amount were released for Capital projects up till date.

“The House is convinced that if funds are urgently released to FERMA by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation out of the amount allocated to FERMA in the 2019 budget, it would go a long way to address the condition of the roads in the Six Geo-Political Zones before December 2019 festive season.

“The House is cognizant that if money is not released to FERMA and nothing is done to rehabilitate the Federal roads before the commencement of December 2019 festive season, Nigerians would undergo avoidable stress, gridlock, loss of lives and properties occasioned by bad and dangerous roads and the negative effects of such occurrence on National development is better imagined than experienced.

To this end, the House urged Federal Government to direct the Minister of Finance and Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to release funds to FERMA to commence rehabilitation of federal roads in the Six Geo-Political Zones immediately before December 2019 festive season.

The House also mandated the Committees on FERMA and Legislative Compliance to ensure compliance and report back within 2 weeks for further legislative action.