The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Federal Road Maintenance Agency,(FERMA) Mr Femi Bamisile, has canvassed for appropriation of more funds for the maintenance of federal roads across the country.
Bamisile said the sum of N460 billion budgeted for construction and maintenance of federal roads in 2021 budget was not enough owing to the deplorable state of roads in Nigeria.
The All Progressives Congress,(APC) lawmaker representing Ekiti South Constituency 2, made the call on Sunday, while addressing commuters, who got stranded on Igede-Aramoko -Efon Road, in Aramoko-Ekiti, in Ekiti West Local Government Area.
Lamenting the state of federal roads and how commuters were being stuck on them due to collapsed bridges or cases of deplorable conditions, Bamisile described the N30 billion allocated to FERMA out of the budgetary provision to the Federal Ministry of Works, as “paltry.”
The lawmaker was on-the-sight assessment to the place as a result of luxury bus belonging to Etie Okwe Transport Company gotten stuck at a bad portion of the road and obstructed free flow of vehicles along that route for several hours.
The federal lawmaker, representing Gbonyin/Ekiti East, who also visited Ado-Ilawe-Igbara-Oke and Ado-Ikere-Akure Road, where similar situations were experienced, called on the Ekiti Traffic Management Agency,(ESTMA) to rise to the occasion and remove the faulty vehicles.
Bamisile, who sympathised with the motorists, said FERMA had begun reconstruction of a bridge that collapsed at Ijan-Ekiti, in Gbonyin Local Government Area, causing gridlock on Ado-Ijan-Ikare Road axis.
He described what Nigerians were experiencing across the six geo political zones as pathetic and disturbing, saying he had met the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on the terrible conditions of the federal roads in Ekiti.
He said the Federal Ministry of Works got a total of N460 billion in the budget and N30 billion was allocated to FERMA, adding that it was too small for the agency saddled with maintenance and rehabilitation of roads across Nigeria.
Bamisile suggested that there should be a serious reform in the way federal roads are being maintained, promising that when he returned to Abuja he would take the matter up.
He, however, appealed to the stranded motorists not to resort to violence for they have no other country than Nigeria, assuring that he will ensure that all the barricades are removed for them to continue their journeys.
On the best way to salvage the deplorable roads in the country, Bamisile appealed to the Federal Government to grant tax waver to Aliko Dangote and also adopt concrete tarring to ensure durability.
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