FG Needs N880b Annually To Maintain Roads-Goronyo

The Minister of State for Works, Bello Goronyo, says the federal government needs approximately Eight hundred and Eighty Billion Naira annually to maintain all federal roads across the country.

The minister stated this in Abuja during an investigative hearing organised by the adhoc Committee on the implementation of the 5% user charge for road maintenance under the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA.

Goronyo who decried that poor funding remains the biggest challenge facing the Country’s road infrastructure noted that despite the user charge being designed to fill the funding gap, FERMA and the ministry have been unable to access the funds since 2007.

The agency’s Managing Director revealed that the road user charge deduction has never been implemented due to lack of enforcement by relevant agencies.

Also speaking, the FERMA Managing Director, Chukwuemeka Agbasi, said the road user charge deduction from the pump price of petrol and diesel was never implemented by the defunct Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA and its successor, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA.

Declaring the hearing Open, the Speaker of the House, Dr Abbass Tajudeen, expressed concern over the failure of relevant agencies of government to enforce the statutory charge and remittance of the fund to FERMA and adopted the motion which resulted in the constitution of this ad-hoc committee to investigate the circumstances for the failure of the relevant agencies of government to comply with the section of the Act.

” Section 14(1)(h) of the FERMA Amendment Act 2007 stipulates that 5% of the pump price of petrol and diesel should be allocated to FERMA and the State Maintenance Agencies in the proportion of 40% and 60% respectively.

Represented by the Minority leader Kingsley Chinda, Dr Abbas said over the years, this section of the Act has not been complied with despite different attempts by the National Assembly through their oversight activities to compel compliance and has affected the operations of the beneficiary agencies of government and by extension the Nigerian people who ply public roads.

“Nigerians looks up to you to ask the relevant questions and scan through the necessary documents to establish how much has accrued from the collection of the 5% user charge from the date of commencement of the law till the time of this investigation and the benefit of FERMA and similar agencies at the state level.

The Speeker stressed that the investigative hearing should also be able to make strong recommendations on how to forestall further abuse of the law and streamline the remittance processes for ease of access to the funds by the relevant government agencies

Chairman of the ad hoc committee, Francis Waive said the user charge is not an attempt to increase prices of petroleum products or to amend the law as it has been part of the law since 2007.

He said the essence of the investigation was to correct the anomalies existing through disobedience to existing laws, adding that the House will ensure that every law passed by the parliament will be obeyed.

Oduyemi Odumade, Edited By Grace Namiji