The Federal Government has committed a total sum of N300 billion for construction and reconstructions of various highways across the country under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola has said.
Mr. Fashola, who disclosed this yesterday, while delivering his keynote address at the 4th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of NUPENG, in Abuja, said the nation’s highways are seriously attracting tremendous attention of the present administration unlike the previous regimes.
Besides, the minister has identified over-speeding by motorists as the highest cause of road crashes across the country, contrary to overwhelming belief that the poor state of the roads is the major culprit. He said the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, regularly avails him of statistics on road accidents.
The minister said,” What has changed under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, is that the Buhari Government has committed close to N300 Billion to roads, and funded about N260 Billion at a time when oil prices are manifestly below the 2015 figures.”
“If you think this is not important, let me remind you that in 2015, only N18 Billion was budgeted for all Nigerian roads in the Ministry of Works. Only N9 Billion was funded at the time, when Nigeria’s oil was selling at close to $100 per barrel,” he recalled.
Fashola in his address entitled, “Roads in Nigeria and the Impact of Petroleum Products Distribution”, stressed that the contributions of tanker drivers to the economy cannot be discountenanced.
He said had identified six priority areas in its road development agenda, including the ones that connect agricultural produce areas, those that lead to petroleum tank farms and depots, and comprehensive bridge repair programme, among others.
He disclosed that no state of the federation was left out in the roads development programme of the present government, putting the number of roads currently under construction nationwide at over 300, even as he stated that contractors had gone back to site on major road projects across the country.
The minister revealed that his ministry was on the verge of getting procurement for the reconstruction of the Apapa-Mile 2-Wharf road.
Admonishing tanker drivers to ensure safety on the roads by eschewing unhealthy traffic behaviours, including taking those things that ‘clear their eyes’ , the minister assured that his ministry was desirous of bequeathing better road network across the country.