Senate sets up c’ttee on collapsing road infrastructure

The Senate on Wednesday, set up an ad-hoc committee to come up with a compendium of all the affected federal roads and erosion sites across the country either awarded, but abandoned by contractors or or have not been awarded at all, to be forwarded to the executive arm for urgent intervention.

The Red Chamber charged the federal government to consider the option of concessions by engaging credible construction firms after proper screenings to fix all bad roads across the country.

It also advised the government to seek alternative funding sources like the Muhammadu Buhari administration did with SUKUK and two others to enable it to deliver on road infrastructure projects.

These resolutions were sequel to a motion, titled: “Collapse of road infrastructure in Nigeria”, by the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau and co-sponsored by other 108 senators during plenary.

Senator Barau, while presenting the motion, lamented that “so many federal roads are in very deplorable conditions that hardly any part of the country can boast of a motorable road.”

According to him, some of the roads have been awarded for either construction or rehabilitation only to be abandoned by the contractors after moving to the site.

“Collapse of the road infrastructure has virtually cut off many parts of Nigeria, with its attendant negative impact on trade and commerce.

“The collapse has led to a decline in agricultural activities, adversely affecting the movement of agricultural produce from rural areas and across the country, resulting in a slide in the country’s agricultural output and economy, especially now that the country needs to diversify its economy,” he stressed.

The Deputy Senate President also noted with sadness “concomitant loss of lives as a result of the bad state of the roads, as evidenced by the chilling statistics reeled out by the Federal Road Safety Corps, which is a price too high and too prohibitive to pay.”

Contributing, Senator Isah Jibrin (APC Kogi East), noted with regret that many people died in accidents caused by bad roads while many others have been forced to abandoned their homes due to collapse of bridges and drainages.

Other senators in their contributions, lamented the adverse effects of erosion and other factors on roads in their constituencies and called for urgent rehabilitation and reconstruction, where necessary, to save lives and properties of the people.

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