The Senate on Tuesday passed a motion seeking to revive collection of tolls on federal highways across the country.
It said collection of toll, from motorists was the only way to construct and maintain roads and enhance their efficiency.
The upper chamber of the National
Assembly recalled that tolls were abolished by former President Olusegun
Obasanjo in 2004, who argued that the revenue for road maintenance
should rather be generated from an increased pump price of petrol.
A member of the Senate representing
Bauchi-North Senatorial District, Suleiman Nazif, who moved the motion
titled, ‘Need for the re-establishment of tolls on our federal
highways,’ however, said the Senate was alarmed that the state of the
country’s infrastructure, including roads, was worrisome, “particularly
due to corruption and mismanagement of resources over the years.”
He stated that maintenance of roads could be taken seriously instead of constructing new ones.
Nazif said even though the
reintroduction of tolls was coming during economic recession, more lives
were being lost due to the bad state of the roads.
He added that he was mindful of the current situation in the country, “where times are hard and resources are scarce.”
He added, “When we talk about tollgates,
the major and critical issues are: one, what is the amount that will be
fixed for tolls? Two, who are those that will be the collectors of the
tolls? Three, what will the money be utilised for? These are the major
reasons and problems of the average Nigerian.”
Nazif, in the motion, said, “The Senate
notes that the main purpose of the tollgates is for revenue generation,
which will aid effective and efficient maintenance of federal highways;
observes that the deplorable state of roads in Nigeria has certainly
become a national shame and an unnecessary embarrassment.
“The Senate notes that the
re-establishment of tollgates is a solution to saving the nation’s
generally dilapidated road networks; observes that besides revenue
generation, the presence of tollgates, which are normally managed by
armed security agents, provides a level of safety for road users; notes
that government alone cannot fund road construction.”
The lawmaker further said the Senate was
disturbed that the poor state of roads in Nigeria had remained for many
years, posing “a great source of risk for travellers and transporters.”
He also said the upper chamber of the
National Assembly was worried that cases of road accidents being
reported daily in the news painted “terrible and pathetic pictures of
this ugly development.”
“The Senate observes that the use of
tollgates provides Nigeria with an excellent strategy to improve its
road and bridges for the benefit of Nigerians,” Nazif added.
All the senators who spoke supported the
motion. They included the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume (Borno-South); the
Deputy Minority Whip, Abiodun Olujimi (Ekiti-South); Abdullahi Gumel
(Jigawa North-West); Sabi Abdullahi (Niger-North); Albert Bassey (Akwa
Ibom North-East); James Manager (Delta-South); and the Deputy President
of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary.
Ndume, while seconding the motion, said
the resources for constructing and maintaining roads had been limited by
the current economic crisis.
Olujimi, in her remarks, said states,
which had invested in the reconstruction of federal roads, could not
maintain the roads, as the law empowered only the Federal Roads
Maintenance Agency to collect tolls on such roads.
Ekweremadu said the construction and
maintenance of roads had become an issue of concern to all Nigerians.
He, however, noted that due to past experiences on tolling, there was a
need for the Senate to do a thorough job on the reintroduction of the
system.
The Senate, therefore, unanimously
granted the prayer that, “The (Senate) Committee on Works should liaise
with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and other
relevant stakeholders to develop policy and technology to facilitate the
construction, maintenance and tolling in Nigeria.”
Source: Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment