Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday blamed the deplorable state of the roads in the country on abuses by road users and insurgency, among others.
Fashola made the statement at the 29th Meeting of the National Council on Works which held in Calabar.
The meeting, which had permanent secretaries, directors of work, and commissioners of works, among others in attendance was themed, ‘Infrastructure as the pathway for prosperity.’
Fashola, who was represented by the Minister of State, Works and Housing, Abubakar Aliyu, at the meeting noted: “The need to look beyond public budgets and the clamour for other funding sources for road projects are recurring decimals in the literature of Nigerian highways development.
“The challenge of insurgency in some parts of the country, road-users’ abuses like the uncontrollable excessive axle loads by trucks, unauthorised use of federal roads right-of-ways, and many other problems which are begging for solutions can be explored to create a pathway for prosperity.”
He said the theme of the meeting had been carefully chosen “to address the complex issues of road infrastructure development in our dear country towards proffering tangible solutions, comfortable environment to sustain business and the effects of giving the people back what they actually deserve as citizens of our great nation.”
According to him, the mandate of the meeting “is to find new enduring possibilities on how to establish the link between infrastructure development and job creation, poverty alleviation, wealth creation and the empowerment of the informal sector, among others, in ensuring that the 10 million jobs target per annum by Mr. President is attained.”
The Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade, who declared the meeting open, drew the attention of the minister to the deplorable state of the Calabar-Itu road and called for its urgent repair.
“I empathise with those who travel through Calabar-Itu road. A journey that usually lasts one hour now takes about five hours. Is FERMA still in existence? Let FERMA maintain roads so that they will last for some time. Let us revive our maintenance culture,” Ayade who was represented by his Deputy, Prof. Ivara Esu, said.
He commended the Federal Ministry of Works for holding the meeting in Calabar even as he called on the Federal Government to support the super highway project and the deep seaport.
