The House of Representatives Committee on Works has advised
the Federal Government to handover federal roads to the states to reduce the
level of dilapidation of such roads.

The Tide reports that the committee was in Cross River State
to inspect federal roads in the South-South geo-political zone.

The committee also called for the  re-introduction of toll gates to raise money
to ensure that the roads are in good condition.

The leader of the team, Hon
Fort Dike, said he was worried over the magnitude of decay of the roads
visited by the committee, adding that there was problem in funding of federal
roads and that the house was considering the option of re-introducing  toll gates as a source of revenue.

“There is need for fundamental change of federal roads in
Nigeria. The Federal Government must change the pattern of the yearly
allocation.

“ Government must evolve way of doing road within three
years instead of endless years of road construction.

“When Federal Government transfers the federal roads to the
state and build toll gate, it will generate income to maintain the  roads,” he said.

He said the House would not give its support to the idea of
paying for substandard jobs, pointing out that the annual budget should be done
in a manner that would give 50 per cent of the budget to the capital projects
and 50 to recurrent expenditure.

The state Commissioner for Works, Mr Legor Idagbo, commended
the lawmakers for their timely visit, stressing that it came at a time there
was urgent needs for government intervention on the collapsed federal roads.

He expressed concern over the continued payments of money
for federal road projects poorly executed by contractors across the state
and  that the state would work hand in
hand with the Federal Government to ensure that the roads were constructed
according to the approved standards and specifications.

The federal roads visited were the Calabar/Odukpani/Itu Road
and Akampa/Ugep/Obubra/Ikom highways.