The National Assembly emphasized the insufficient funding of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and advocated for an increased budget to enhance road infrastructure.
During the presentation of the FERMA 2023 Performance/2024 Budget Defence at a joint sitting of the Senate and House Committees on FERMA, Hussaini Uba, Chairman of the Senate Committee on FERMA, highlighted the agency’s challenges.
He stressed that FERMA struggles to meet public expectations of ensuring all roads are safe and accessible due to the inadequacy of its annual budget allocation.
Uba underlined the dire state of federal roads nationwide, urging immediate attention to alleviate the hardships faced by road users. He also urged FERMA to focus on engaging stakeholders and enhancing public awareness to effectively communicate its achievements, hurdles, and goals to the wider population.
This information was relayed in a statement issued in Abuja by the agency’s Director of Communications and Public Relations, Mrs. Maryam Sanusi.
He said, “The poor condition of federal roads across the country is unimaginable and calls for urgent attention to ameliorate the suffering of road users.
“FERMA is doing a good job within the limited means, but it is not appreciated because the bit it is doing is only able to affect a small percentage of the people”
He added that FERMA is poorly funded and has advocated for increased annual budgetary allocations for the agency.
He also encouraged FERMA to effectively communicate their progress and challenges to NASS Committees on FERMA so that they will be on the same page with the Agency.
According to the statement, the Managing Director of FERMA, Chukwuemeka Agbasi, said during his presentation said, the roads selected for the 2024 capital budget proposal were based on equitable distribution according to the six Geopolitical Zones of the country.
He added that “priorities were given to major trunk A roads within the Zones that would key into Mr. President’s priority areas of National Development and Economic Recovery; roads that would massively improve the movement of persons, goods, services, and agricultural produce to boost food security and economic wellbeing of the citizen.”
He further added that the 2024 budget included the rollover of some projects with a completion period exceeding the 2023 fiscal year to ensure 100% execution.
He revealed that N51.3bn was appropriated for the maintenance of 36,000km of federal roads in the country.
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, who was present during the presentation, said in his remarks that the appropriation was inadequate and that FERMA was doing its best.
He said the budget needed to be reviewed upward and that a contingency fund is supposed to be kept aside for urgent intervention on emergency road repairs.
He reiterated that road designs in the country will be reviewed for better road construction and maintenance, which will allow the roads to last longer.
