The Senate has mandated its Committee on Works to investigate the award and execution of contract on the Idah–Odolu–Nsukka–Adani–Otuocha–Onitsha federal road, which has been in a state of total disrepair.
It equally urged the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), to as an interim measure, begin immediate repair of bad portions of the road to make it more motorable pending when full rehabilitation works can commence.
The Red Chamber also urged the Federal Government to ensure the rehabilitation and repair of inter-state roads in the country this year.
The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion on the, “Urgent need to repair and rehabilitate interstate roads in Nigeria”, brought by Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu North), and two others.
Debating the motion on the floor, Senator Utazi disclosed: “Nigeria has the second longest network of roads in Africa, after South Africa with over 200,000 kilometers of roads in the country”.
He said: “Roads are important for communications, social integration, economic development and defence access, as roads in Nigeria account for more than 95 per cent of the movement of people, goods and service.
“Road as major infrastructure signposts the performance of a government in terms provision of facilities to improve the quality of life of the citizenry and it is one of the instruments to bolster economic growth because building roads has many associated activities that spin into other facets of life,” he said.
Utazi lamented that decaying road infrastructure, with poor maintenance culture, is one of the major developmental challenges Nigeria faces.
“The poor maintenance of roads has led to loss of precious man-hours, vehicular disrepair, high accident rates and high fatalities, ambushes by criminals and rapists, and other socio–economic frustrations,” he said.
He expressed sadness that the Idah–Odolu–Nsukka–Adani–Otuocha–Onitsha road, which traverses the three states of Kogi, Enugu and Anambra has been awarded to various contractors and huge funds released to them by the federal government without any appreciable job done on the road, with many sections impassable.
Utazi noted that injection of funds for the repair and rehabilitation of the road and others across the country either by FERMA or the Ministry of Works, Power and Housing, would have a serious impact on its general development.
Contributing to the debate, Senator Albert Bassey (PDP, Akwa Ibom North–East), lamented that there was nothing to show for the billions of Naira that have been sunk into various road projects in the country.
He described good roads as a major factor of production that would in turn not only improve the nation’s economy, but also the quality of lives of the people.
Also lending his voice, a co-sponsor of the motion, Senator Attai Aidoko Ali (PDP, Kogi East) pointed out that rehabilitation of the Idah–Odolu–Nsukka–Adani–Otuocha–Onitsha road would reduce pressure on both the Niger and 2nd Niger Bridges for the safety of travellers as well as reducing their journeys from eight to three hours from Abuja to Onitsha.
On his part, Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna Central), submitted that Nigeria might not achieve meaningful development without improved road infrastructure among the various parts of the country.
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary, reiterated the Senate’s commitment to always stay alive to its responsibility, therefore urging the federal government to address the entire road infrastructure deficit in the country.
