House to Probe Road Constructions Since 2007

Shola Oyeyipo in Abuja

The House of Representatives has resolved to probe all the roads constructed by the Federal Government across the country between 2007 and present time.

The House adopted a motion of urgent public importance titled “Motion on the Daily Death of Nigerians as result of Bad Roads in Nigeria,” was moved by Hon. Dachung Musa Bagus Thursday.

The House therefore mandated its Committee on Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), chaired by Hon Richard Olufemi Bamisile to investigate all roads constructed by the federal government since 2007 till date and report back to the House within few weeks for further legislative action.

FERMA was also directed to ensure that construction and rehabilitation of collapsed roads are included among priority list of project in the 2020 budget.

Discussing the motion, Bagus stated that: “The challenges caused by poor state of roads in the country make it difficult for road users and commuters to travel on road without recording avoidable loss of life and enormous damage to vehicles.

“Most federal highways were constructed in the 1970’s and since then no major quality construction or rehabilitation has been carried out on these important links.”

He noted that the less privileged would continue to wallop in abject poverty if urgent measures were not taken to rehabilitate roads in order to improve the economic and commercial activities in the country.

According to him, “only yesterday a bridge collapsed in Ekiti State and people died in the process. People die on the roads on daily basis because all the roads are in a sorry state.

“We as law makers, we must urgently address the issue because if we don’t do something now, we will not be able to attain the next level of greatness of our dream.”