Senate wants release of N500bn from service wide vote for roads rehabilitation

Senate has urged the Federal Government to allocate part of the service wide vote allocation of N500 billion to Federal Roads Maintenance Agency(FERMA) for urgent rehabilitation of roads destroyed by flood.

This followed the adoption of a motion by Sen.Bassey Gershom(PDP-Cross River) at plenary on Wednesday.

Presenting the motion, Gershom said that 2022 flood was high, given the history of flooding in Nigeria.

According to him, the rise in water level was more than the 2012 and 2020 flood incidences in the country.

He said the flood has further deepened the deplorable state of Nigeria’s federal roads.

He said the call for the fund become became necessary given the inaccessible nature of some major inter- state roads, as the roads and some bridges have been washed off by the heavy floods.

This ,he said has created economic and security challenges for Nigerians.

According to him, road transportation is the major means of transportation in Nigeria given the non affordability of air transport by most Nigerians.

He said the movement of commuters and other Nigerians occasioned by Yuletide season would be impacted adversely given the deplorable roads caused by flood.

The Senate also in its resolution called for the expansion of the NNPC Ltd Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme to cover maintenance of failed sections of federal roads.