Prospective travellers during the coming Yuletide season may face hard times crisscrossing the nation’s federal roads due to its deplorable condition, Saturday PUNCH reports.
This is despite the allocation of N1.27tn for the construction and rehabilitation of road projects by the Federal Government in four years.
The budgetary allocation is separate from other alternative sources financed through the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund, Sukuk Bonds scheme and public-private partnership.
Saturday PUNCH reports that most federal highways across the country have deteriorated so badly that many Nigerians are calling for an urgent intervention by the Federal Government.
Indeed, a closer look at some of the roads shows that, riddled with potholes as big as craters and worn thin by years of official neglect, they are in dire need of urgent rehabilitation.
Unfortunately, each of the 36 states has its fair share of failed federal highways. Such roads, which many people now consider to be synonymous with death traps, are not restricted to states like Lagos, Rivers, and Kaduna, they are also found in Ekiti, Enugu and Niger states.
However, the budget analysis showed that funding allotted increased yearly from N165.37bn in 2020 to N236.27bn in 2021.
In 2022, the government disbursed N325.57bn, separate from a N97.2bn special intervention funding to rehabilitate 156 damaged sections of federal roads and bridges damaged by flooding nationwide.
Also, the ministry got an appropriation of N548.5bn in 2023. In spite of this amount, Nigerians believe that the ministry and contractors have failed to deliver good, durable and quality roads.
Before now, commuters and travellers plying the Second Niger Bridge have expressed their displeasure about the non-functional streetlights on the bridge, forcing many to abandon the newly constructed bridge.
Our correspondent who went around the bridge recently observed that the streetlights, right from the Asaba, Delta State end of the road to Idemili, Anambra State, were not functioning and rendered the full stretch of the 1.7km long bridge very dark, and scary with very scanty vehicles.
When contacted on the steps employed by the ministry to affect the situation, Orji Uchenna Orji, the Chief Press Secretary to the Minister of Works, David Umahi, declined to immediately comment on the issue.
However, the Director, South-West, Federal Ministry of Works, Adedamola Kuti, speaking in an exclusive interview with our correspondent, said the ministry was set to make judicious use of the dry season and has ensured all contractors mobilised fully back to the site.
He said the government would focus on damaged sections of the federal roads and bridges damaged by flooding nationwide.
He said, “All contractors have agreed to move back to the site. We are now in the dry season and contractors are mobilising back to the site fully.
“All failed roads damaged during the rainy season will be repaired and we are going to make effective use of this dry season.”
When asked if the contractors have agreed on the use of concrete technology, the senior engineer simply stated, “Our contractors have aligned with the ministry’s agenda for the collective interest of all Nigerians.”
