Senate Proposes Bill Seeking To Stop FG From Constructing, Maintaining Roads In Nigeria

The Nigeria Senate has propsed a bill seeking to take the obligation of road construction, maintenance and rehabilitation from the Federal Government.

If passed and approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, the bill will allow local and foreign investors to take over the responsibility.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Senator Gershom Bassey, disclosed this during an interview with journalists in Abuja on Sunday, December 15, 2019.

Bassey said the red chamber settled for the legislation because the Federal Government had over the years failed to find solutions to the deplorable state of Nigerian roads.

“We must find a solution. The new legislation that the Senate is working on now seeks to move road construction and maintenance off the federal budget and let the private sector come in.”

“There is no rocket science here. This idea has been working in other parts of the world and it cannot be different in Nigeria.

“Money will automatically flow into our roads because the private sector will be willing and ready to invest since they know it’s a thriving business and they would recoup their money.”

He said the bill made provisions for setting up the structures, adding that the first was the creation of the Federal Road Authority (aFRA), which would absorb FERMA which was incapable of fixing the nation’s roads with the funds from the yearly budget.

FRA would be owners of the roads with full authority to deliver good roads by whatever means.