Rep blames corrupt officials for bad roads

By 234 Next reporter -Festus Owete

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Usman Nafada, on Wednesday, accused the officials of the Federal Ministry of Works of colluding with road contractors to do poor jobs, saying it is the major reason why roads fail in the country. Mr Nafada spoke in Abuja at a public hearing on a bill sponsored by a suspended member of the House, Austin Nwachukwu (PDP, Imo) alongside 10 others for unruly behaviour on the floor and accusing the leadership of corruption.

The bill is titled, “A bill for an Act to Construct, Build and Maintain Roads and Erosion Projects for Five Years before Handing Over and Other Matters connected therewith.” Mr Nafada, who represented the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole at the hearing, said the ministry officials do not carry out proper on contractors executing government’s job and in most cases compromise standard for pecuniary gains.

Urgent need for action

“We need to do something on the state of our roads,” he said. “I don’t want to blame the construction companies, there are people supervising them. For a certificate of no objection to be raised, there is someone either in the ministry or FERMA that would have said the project was satisfactory. Fraudulent practices by these officials cause roads to fail.” The deputy speaker regretted that Nigeria spends more money on road than other African countries but still has more bad roads than those countries.

“The problem of Nigeria is corruption,” he said. “Neighbouring countries spend less than half of what Nigeria pay per kilometre for road construction, yet they get better roads produced for them at the end of the day. Roads in better clime are constructed to last for at least 30 years but roads in Nigeria hardy last two years before collapse. Some are even washed away before they are commissioned. This is not good enough but those saddled with the task of monitoring the stages of the construction up to finishing are in most cases part of the problem.”

He did not spare the foreign construction companies operating in Nigeria either. Mr Nafada accused accusing them of building substandard roads for Nigerians. “Foreign companies operating in Nigeria, you know the condition of roads in your country,” he said. “It is criminal for you to come here and build sub-standard roads that will not stand the test of time.” However, Mr Nafada applauded the efforts of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), stating that the agency has been trying to improve the quality of the roads they construct.

The works minister, Sanusi Daggash blamed the state of the roads across the country on untimely and late releases of funds. He noted that the level of deficits incurred by government on road construction is high. He called for the establishment of a contingency fund to be domiciled in the Ministry of Works to deal with emergency maintenance works that are no budgeted for. The minister added that the operations of FERMA could be enhanced if the agency is given a free hand in choosing the roads to be maintained just as he demanded that the agency should be put on first line charge. Olumuyiwa Ajibola, who stood in for the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) blamed the state of the roads in the country on inadequate time for planning and design, imperfect system of contract award, lack of quality supervision, inadequate funding and contract administration and inappropriate usage of roads all contribute to putting the roads in a deplorable condition.