The Chairman Senate Committee on Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Senator Gershom Bassey, has hailed the implementation of the 2019 budget releases to the agency, saying FERMA completed most of it projects that were budgeted for in 2019 up to 98 per cent.
Sen. Bassey stated this during an oversight visit to FERMA by the Senate Committee on FERMA to ascertain the level of implementation of the budget releases for 2019, which he described as “very impressive”.
Responding to questions from the press, the chairman said the purpose of their visit was to ascertain and ensure that the funds that were appropriated and released to FERMA in 2019 were appropriately utilised.
He, however, noted that the committee was not satisfied with the funding of FERMA, and said the agency should get much more than it got presently.
He said, “The budget should be much larger. This is an agency that affects every single life in Nigeria. Road is the artery in which we live and breathe in Nigeria. We transport basically everything by road; we don’t have any other infrastructure as it is. The upkeep of these roads is key to us. If we give FERMA more funds, even N1tn, it is not too much to maintain our roads.”
Sen. Bassey further decried the non-implementation of laws that were enacted in 2007, like the non-implementation of the five per cent user charge to fund road projects and the vehicle tax, and added that the National Assembly was investigating the non-implementation and that a report would soon be out.
The Managing Director (MD) of FERMA, Engr. Nuruddeen A. Rafindadi, while appreciating the Senate committee the support so far from them, said FERMA could improve on the backlog of maintenance of federal roads if there was an increase in the release of money appropriated to the agency.
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