Bad roads: No reprieve yet in sight

On Sunday October 15, Ogbor Ogbor, lawmaker representing Biase State Constituency in the Cross River House of Assembly, drew the attention of the Federal Government to the very poor state of the Biase-Calabar Federal Highway and called for its urgent repair.

The lawmaker, who spoke at the Iwuru axis of the road cautioned that if nothing urgent was done to rehabilitate the road, the central and northern parts of the state would be severed from Calabar, the state capital.

“This portion of the road is a time bomb waiting to detonate; and when that happens, it will be too dangerous. This is the only major road that leads southern parts of the state to the central and northern parts. It is very clear that very soon all these heavy vehicles conveying petroleum products and food will cease to pass through this road. The thin layer that is remaining will soon collapse. If you look deep, you will see that the force of water is eating the inside of the gully,” the legislator said.

Indeed, Ogbor’s prophesy came to pass, as barely 24 hours after he spoke, the hanging portion of the road caved in killing one and seriously injuring two commuters. This development, which was after a heavy downpour caused the culvert at the same axis of the federal highway to cave in after it hung precariously for a couple of months.

In view of the economic and social damage that the collapsed road would cause, the Federal Government has since dispatched a construction firm to stitch things speedily.
Empirically speaking, not all federal roads across the country get this swift response when things.

As a matter of fact, all federal roads in the state are in different stages of disrepair, and have been like that for many years.

For instance, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) early this year had to intervene to save the steady deterioration of different portions of the ever-busy Calabar-Itu Federal Highway, and the Calabar-Ikom-Katsina Ala Federal Highway.

On Calabar-Itu road, the worst spots are in Odukpani Local Council axis, that is right from the Odukpani Junction to Okoyong Junction, while the whole stretch of Biase-Ugep-Obubra, along the Calabar-Ikom Highway is akin to a death trap.

The Calabar-Oban-Ekang road, where the country’s border post with Cameroon is located is also an eyesore, same as the Calabar-Ikang-Bakassi Federal Highway.

A couple of months ago, commuters in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states were ecstatic when news filtered out that contract for the face-lifting of the Calabar-Itu Highway had been awarded to Julius Berger at the cost of N56b. But that joy is fast dissipating as up till now there is nothing on ground to show, and the contractor yet to move to site.

Similarly, contract for the refurbishing of the Calabar-Ikom Highway is said to have been awarded to another firm, but no construction has started except for the remedial works carried out by Samatech and a few other contractors

A commercial driver, who plies Calabar-Itu Highway, John Udo, expressed frustration at what he and his colleagues go through on the road, daily.

“For so many years this road has been this bad. It does appear like we do not have government in this part of the country. Years back, I would ply this road for some months without paying my mechanic a visit, except for routine car maintenance, but now, after each trip I must pay my mechanic a visit. This is horrible.

“Sadly, even with the very poor state of the road, officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), VIOs and the Nigerian Police, still lurk in different bad spots to check our vehicles and particulars if they are in order. How can a car that is plying such a bad road be in order?”

Ubong Akpan, a commuter is of the view that, “the Calabar-Itu Road has collapsed beyond minor repair works. It now requires total reconstruction. As a passenger I feel unsafe using that road because most of the bad portions are in areas with massive vegetation, where anything can happen.”

The state Commissioner for Works, Dan Osim-Asu, while commenting on the state of federal roads in the state said, “another urgent situation that is steering us in the face is the impassable situation of Calabar-Itu road. Throughout 2015, that road was in a very sorry state and the state government moved in and invested so much money in terms of palliatives, through the state Ministry of Works. We also alerted the Federal Ministry of Works, that being a Trunk A road, it was a direct responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Works, but it is our citizens that are plying the road. We did not stopped there, but continued to put pressure on the Federal Government and that led to the subsequent award of the project to the Julius Berger for N54b, as against the N6b, which is contained in the 2016 budget.

“If you go to Calabar-Ikom-Katsina-Ala Highway, it is in a horrible state, but courtesy of the effort of this government, through the two ministries of works (state and federal), we are intervening at kilometre 16.5. Around Okomita in Biase Local Council, that stretch of the road was abandoned by Picolo Bruneli, in the previous administration, after they had been paid, but the Federal Ministry of Works has fixed it,” said the commissioner, who informed that cumulatively, the state has spent over N25b on palliatives on federal roads, which the Federal Ministry of Works has acknowledged.

He continued: The Calabar-Ikom-Katsina-Ala Road contract has also been awarded by the Federal Government, just as it has shifted attention to the Ikom-Obudu Road, which is the road leading to the Obudu Ranch Resort. Design of the road is ongoing, and by 2018, there will be an award on that project. We have also gone to the Federal Ministry of Works to provide an inter-change at the Odukpani Local Council Junction. That will ease traffic into Calabar, out to Odukpani, and the rest.”
Lagos/Abeokuta Expressway: Pain That Has Refused To Go Away

THE Lagos/Abeokuta Expressway, a Trunk A road in Lagos State is deteriorating at a great speed. The stretch from the old tollgate, in Sango, to Abeokuta in Ogun State, has constituted a serious menace to motorists and other road users.

In the last two weeks, the road has further degenerated, even as the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), which is responsible for its maintenance has done little or nothing to that effect.

Without a doubt, the road appears to have gone the way of many Federal Government’s abandoned projects across the country, as The Guardian can confirm that there is no budgetary allocation for it in the 2017 budget. Similar situation played out in 2015 and 2016, where the road was conspicuously missing in the budget, which led to its worsened state.

Motorists plying the road, and residents are currently encountering a hell of a time.

Before now, traveling from Sango to Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital was always a driver’s delight, in the sense that the incessant traffic jams associated with Lagos were uncommon sights. But the distance between Sango and Ifo, which should not take more than five minutes, has now become a pain in the neck, forcing many to seek alternative routes.

Owode axis is presently the worst hit. The failed portions, stretching through Meat Market to Iyana-Ilogbo, has gone from bad to worse, as palliative works done in previous years have been washed away by the rains.

It was a serious nightmare for motorists penultimate Tuesday, as the road became waterlogged, hence impassable after a heavy downpour. Traffic was at a standstill. The makeshift drainages were sand and dirt-filled making it impossible to channel the rainwater away from the road.

A motorist, Adeolu Hakeem, bemoaned the state of the road, describing it as “shame of a nation.”

He noted that for the Federal Government and the state to watch the road deteriorate to such a level simply meant that those voted into office were taking the people for granted.

“If Federal Government fails to do it, the state government can repair the road and claim the money from the Federal Government,” he stated.

A civil servant, Madam Ronke Olunloyo lamented the wasted man-hour on the road, daily, noting that the state of the road has led to high cost of transport fare.

When the FERMA boss in charge of the state, Alexanda Mazoya, was contacted on phone, he told The Guardian that FERMA noted that paucity of funds was responsible for the sorry state of the road. He said he is was in touch with their headquarters, assuring that something meaningful would be done on the road before the yuletide.

Anguish On East-West Road 
Driving on the East West Road, especially some sections along the Aba/Eleme Road Junction to Onne Road Junction axis in Rivers State, is like walking a tightrope. Due to the pathetic condition of the road, several trucks often fall down, with goods worth millions of naira destroyed.

The worst section between Aba/Eleme Junction and Onne Junction, which is about seven kilometres, links multi-national investments, such as the Port Harcourt Refinery, Indorama Petrochemicals, Notore Fertilizer Company, Okrika Terminal, Federal Ocean Terminal 1 and 2, Onne/Ikpokiri Oil and Gas Free Zone, the Nigeria Naval College, and several other companies.

Because of the Onne Seaport, the refinery and several multinational companies, thousands of heavy duty vehicles conveying petroleum products, imported goods, and oil equipment ply this section of the road daily.

These days, because of the poor state of the road, a journey that should not take more than 40 minutes, now gulps over four hours. A truck driver, Obed Akpan, told The Guardian that he often experiences breathlessness and nausea while conveying petroleum products from the Port Harcourt refinery to Aba.

According to him, driving on this stretch of road causes excruciating pain because of the long traffic that causes trucks and vehicles to move at
snail’s pace.

He said innumerable trucks and four-wheelers have suffered degrees of irreparable damage because of the dilapidated state of the road. To beat the annoying traffic snarl, and get to her office before 8:30am, a staff of one of the multinational firms working at the Free Zone, Deborah Yobana, told The Guardian that she leaves home by 5:30. She explained that prior to the deterioration, she usually left home by 7am.

“In order to beat the heartrending traffic, I no longer join the company’s bus. I instead travel to a relative’s house at Abuloma, and board a boat to Okrika. From there, I catch a motorbike to Eleme, and then to Onne. Before I devised this strategy, I could leave the house by 5:30am and get to the office as late as by 10:am. Something has to be done about the road,” she said.

Kingsley Ngofa, who hails from Eleme told The Guardian that is was disheartening for the Federal Government to continue to neglect East-West Road, which is very critical to the Nigerian economy.

He pointed to the fact that Nigeria derives huge revenue from import duties at the Onne seaport, taxes and other levies from the Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone, Onne.

“It is really disheartening that the Federal Government, which generates billions of naira monthly from the Oil and Gas Free Zone, which is one of the country’s economic hubs could neglect this critical infrastructure. There are two refineries here, a petrochemical and free trade zone, and hundreds of companies on this stretch of the road, yet, the government cannot fix the road,” he wondered.

Contract for the dualisation of the 675km road, which links Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Edo states to the rest of the country was awarded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2006, at the cost of N211 billion, without an engineering design or appropriation in the 2007 budget.

On assumption of office, former President Goodluck Jonathan, after the production of the engineering drawing, added additional 23.9km to link Calabar, in Cross River State, with the coastal town of Oron in Akwa Ibom State. He also reviewed the contract sum from N211b to N726b. Though the road has gulped so much money, it is still far from completion.

Since good roads directly contribute to the economic growth of the country, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, in June 2015, in collaboration with some multi-national companies, raised about N3b and carried out some remediation works on the road, all in a bid to make it motorable. But the constant heavy traffic on the road has further escalated the degeneration of the road.

On several occasions, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have threatened to declare an indefinite strike
over the deplorable state of the road.

The South South Zonal Chairman of NUPENG, Charles Eleto, recently lamented that due to the abandonment of the road by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, it became almost impossible for tankers to lift petroleum products from the refineries and other tank farms in the area.

“Tanker drivers and members of NUPENG are not the only people using the road, workers are also using the road and some of them have been issued queries by their companies for coming to work late, and these queries could affect their careers,” he said.

To worsen matters, the deplorable state of the road is now a subject of litigation. In a motion on notice for an order for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights in Suit No: FHC/PH/FHR/158/2017, the secretary, Pan Niger Delta Forum, Ledum Mitee, on behalf of himself, and as representing the interest of indigenes, residents and communities of Eleme, Ogoni, Okrika, Ogo-Bolo, Opobo, Andoni and Akwa Ibom State, including other commuters of the Port Harcourt – Onne Junction section of the East-West Road, filed the suit at a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, where he claimed the neglect of the road  has being responsible for the attendant carnage on the road.

Mitee said the fact that he can no longer practice his profession in the courts in Eleme and Bori, Ogoni, all in Rivers State due to the sorry state of the portion of the road, leading to loss of income, as he can no longer travel to his village to associate with his family members and attend to their needs at home, is an infringement on his fundamental human rights.

However, the Rivers State Government has appealed to the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on failed portions of
the road, which has completely broken down, and constitutes death traps and huge embarrassment to the country.

Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Nsima Ekere, whose agency recently carried out some remedial works on the dilapidated portions of the road, said the outfit and its supervising ministry, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs need over N70b to complete its construction.

He lamented that the Eleme Refinery Junction section is in a very terrible state saying: “It is so bad that a 10-minute journey on that axis now takes three hours. That section of the road has failed and we will get contractors to the site immediately.”

Commuters Groan On Benin-Auchi, Ibillo – Okene – Lokoja Highways  
Travelling from Benin City, the Edo State capital to Abuja, through Ekpoma, Okpella, through Okene has become a misadventure that many regret venturing into in the last few years.

Over 80 per cent of the road has become impassable for vehicles, with worst hit being the Ekpoma axis, which has cut Benin City, (which is in Edo South Senatorial District) from Edo North Senatorial District. This is the single longest stretch of a federal road in the state.

The others are the Benin – Ore – Ofosu and the Ibillo – Ondo – Lagos Road, and Ibillo – Okene – Lokoja Road.

Also begging for serious attention is the Ibillo axis of the federal road, in Akoko-Edo Local Council, which share boundaries with Ondo and Kogi states. Commuters going to Abuja from Lagos pass through this route and vice versa, but the part of the road from Isua Akoko to Ikiran-Ile to Ibillo, is fast dilapidating, while between Ibillo and Lampese that links travellers to Okene, in Kogi State is completely cut off.

The journey from Isua, in Ondo State, to Okene in Kogi State, driving through Ibillo that should take less than one hour, now takes three hours, and commuters would have to first travel to Igarra, Headquarters of the local council (a location that is entirely off the route) to connect several villages to Ososo, then Makeke, to avoid the completely cut off section between Ibillo and Lampese.

The most unfortunate part of the development is that roads in these communities are now fast dilapidating due to the high volume of traffic plying them.

“There are two very bad spots in between Ibillo and Lampese and Ekor Ibillo axis on your way to Lagos, through Ikiran Oke and Isua axis near Ondo State. So, motorists now circumnavigate to Igarra via Enwan, Ojah, Makeke Ekpedo to Lampese before criss-crossing to Abuja again. The roads in that axis are not Trunk A roads, so they are fast dilapidating because of these heavy vehicular movement,” observed a community leader and road user from the area, Prince Ismaila Adjoto.

Adjoto continued: “This is the unfortunate situation that we have found ourselves, that is, where crossing from Ibillo to Lampese is like the camel going through the eye of a needle.”

He said the situation has adversely affected the economic life of the neighbouring areas saying, “What is being lost is unquantifiable in monetary terms. For instance, the Ibillo Market, which is a national market is lost. The market is a mini Nigeria market and it is losing its traffic as the bad road; and that is having economic effects on it because many people converge in that market every five days. If people cannot travel from the north and from Lagos to come and buy farm products, you know what that means to the Council and the people in terms of revenue.”

The situation is not different in the Benin-Auchi-Okenne road as commuters travelling from Benin City to Edo North either pass through Agbor Road in Delta State to connect parts of Edo Central, or through Ifon in Ondo State to connect Uzebba.

Few years ago, a businessman and philanthropist, Bishop Matthew Okpebholo had singly rehabilitated part of the road in Benin City, Iruekpen, Ekpoma and others, but the present state of the road calls for total reconstruction.

A commuter, John Ehis, said he spent almost 12 hours on his journey from Abuja to Benin City recently. “We left Abuja before 7am and by 9am we were in Lokoja, but after Lokoja, I didn’t get to Benin City until 6 pm, it was horrible.”

But few days ago, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, inspected failed portions of the Benin- Ehor -Ekpoma- Auchi Expressway.

Ilorin/Omuaran /Otun Ekiti Causing Drivers Heartache
One out of the three Federal Government roads that link Kwara State to neighbouring states is presently in a deplorable condition. Kwara is bounded in the North by Niger State, in the West by Oyo State, and in the East by Ekiti State. But while the state has dual carriageways linking it with Ogbomoso, Oyo State, and Mokwa in Niger State, the Ilorin/Omuaran /Otun Ekiti State is presently an almost impassable route to motorists. A section of the road, which links the state with Egbe in Kogi State is rated as one of the worst roads in the country, as it is riddled with pot holes and gorges.

According to the Chairman of Kwara State Chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers  (NURTW), Issa Ore, the journey from Ilorin to Omuaran, which is about 78 kilometres now takes between two to two and a half hours to complete.

Ore also disclosed that because of the excruciating nature of the trip to Egbe, through Omuaran, his members plying the route now prefer to take a longer route.

“Even though it is a longer route, my members now go through Ekiti State to link Kogi State. This is because each time we pass through Omuaran, we spend a lot of money to put our vehicles back in order.”

He therefore appealed to the Federal Government to capture the roads for prompt repairs in the year 2018 budget, in order to alleviate the sufferings of drivers plying the routes and the commuting public.

Senior Special Assistant on Media to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, Dr. Muideen Akorede, said the current administration has spent billions of naira to fix federal roads in order to make them passable, “without any refund from the Federal Government, despite repeated appeals by the state government.”

Akorede explained that the Ilorin/Kiama/Baruten Road, linking the North East part of the state with the southern part of neighbouring Benin Republic, would have become “the worst death trap in the country” but for the intervention of the state government.

Criminals Taking Advantage Of Poor State Of Federal Roads In Ondo
The deplorable state of federal roads in Ondo State has, in recent times, facilitated multiple deaths through recurring accidents, unending traffic jams, armed robbery attacks, even as kidnappers now see the routes as fertile grounds to perpetrate their heinous crimes, unabated.

For sometime now, more than 100 people have been robbed, abducted, maimed or killed by men of the underworld, who mount their operations along impaired spots and bad stretches of Owo/Ikare and other major roads in Akoko axis linking Kogi State.

Major Federal roads like Ore/Okitipupa and Ore/Ijebu-Ode in the South Senatorial District; the Akure/Ondo/Ore, Akure/Ikere and Akure/Ilesa roads in the Central Senatorial District, and the Akure/Owo, Owo/Ikare, Owo/Ikare/Oke-Agbe roads, Ikare/Ugbe/Epinmi/Isua roads and Ikare/Erusu/Ikaram/Akunnu roads in the North District are all in terrible conditions.

Commuters from the northern part of the country, who are headed to Lagos and other South West states suffer immensely on bad spots at Isua, Headquarters of Akoko South East, and the boundary with Ibillo, in Edo State.

According to a student of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko (AAUA), Sylvester Adeleye, “We have been living with this menace of poor roads for a very long time. Sadly, what is even more worrisome now is not the very poor state of the roads, but the fact that kidnappers now feast on travellers on some of these routes, which have become flourishing kidnappers’ den.”

For retired Commissioner for Police, Samuel Adetuyi, “the only route linking the North through the Central Senatorial District to the South Senatorial District is too narrow and dangerous. Most of these roads have been like that since they were constructed in the 1970s.”

He continued, “The Akure/Ore Road has been a single carriageway for more than 40 years. The government must ensure that many of the roads in the state are dualised in order to ease traffic flow, and ameliorate the burden on road users because the multiplying effects are gargantuan.”

A commercial driver, who plies Ikare/Owo Road, Jamiu Alowonle, said, “There are times we leave the broken down highways and get into nearby bushes and even abandoned roads. Driving in these conditions have negative effects on our vehicles. With the high cost of maintenance and of spare parts, we cannot afford not to increase our charges.

A major petroleum dealer in the state, Erelu Modupe Martins, lamented the condition of federal roads saying, “these roads have been plagued by a number of problems with the major ones having faulty designs and inadequate drainage system. Our poor maintenance culture is not helping matters either.”

While calling for the development of a robust transport roadmap, she said the roadmap must be one that is complete with plans to expand our road network, maintain it appropriately, as well as relieve the pressure on our roads, by significantly developing and upgrading other aspects of transportation.

“Okene/Akoko road is now a no-go area while transporters pass through bushes before getting to their destinations. Ore/Ijebu-Ode road is also another death trap; President Buhari should release fund to urgently fix these roads most especially as we move closer to the yuletide season,” she said.

Meanwhile, the state government has been clamouring for a refund of N11b it used to rehabilitate, maintain and reconstruct some Federal roads within the state, such as the Akure/Ondo, Akure/Ado Ekiti, Owo/Ikare roads, and some road dualisation projects in Owo, Ondo and Igbokoda. And Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, it was gathered, allegedly said that his administration would not renovate any federal government road until the outstanding amount is settled.

But Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, while on a courtesy visit to Akeredolu, promised that the Federal Government is working towards refunding the said amount.

Zaria Road In Dire Need Of Attention
Zaria Road is a major expressway that links Kano to Zaria in Kaduna State. But on this very busy and important road, locations like Kofa, Dakatsalle, Kwanar Dangora, Tashar Fulani and Chiromawa, are in very bad shape, and have caused many accidents, which lives have been claimed in the process.

These areas are so bad that a trip, which ought to last for just 30 minutes, would take over two hours. Musa Abdulqadir, a resident of Kofa, who said about four to five accidents are recorded daily on the bad spot, added, “We have reported the matter to authorities concerned, but all to no avail.

“The way things are going, it is as if we don’t have a government in place. When rehabilitation work was carried out on the Abuja – Kaduna Road, during the resurfacing of the runway at Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, we thought the work would be stretched to Kano. Unfortunately, that did not happen.”

Abdulqadir, is of the view that the sorry state of the road, was far from being a fair reflection of the two million votes that residents of the state gave to President Muhammadu Buhari, during the 2015 presidential election.

However, the Federal Government has commenced the rehabilitation of the Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi Road, which links Kano to Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi states, A source close to FERMA revealed that, in November 2016 the agency awarded the contract worth over N184 million for the rehabilitation of the road.

A cross section of motorists, who spoke to The Guardian on the rehabilitation work, commended the Federal Government for awarding the contract, saying, “Besides the economic importance of the road, it links Kano State with Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states, and even the neighbouring Niger Republic.”

Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi Road that was constructed during the administration of the former Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, had never witnessed any major repairs before now.

FERMA Trying Its Best Within Available Resources
As Nigerians are enduring pains daily on account of pothole and crater-infested roads they ply daily, but data obtained from FERMA, shows that a groundswell of roads and bridges across the country were captured for major repair works, construction or reconstruction in the 2017 budget.

For instance, in the 2017 budget, the sum of N10b is budgeted for the rehabilitation/reconstruction and expansion of Lagos-Sagamu-Ibadan dual carriageway, sections I & II in Lagos and Oyo states; N13.19b dualisation of Kano-Maiduguri Road, Sections I-V; N10.63b rehabilitation of Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriageway, Sections I-IV, and N7b for the construction of second Niger Bridge, including access roads phases 2A & 2B.

In addition to this, N6.55b is also earmarked for the dualisation of East-West Road (Sections 1 to 5 covering Warri-Kiama-Ahoada-Port Harcourt-Eket- Oron-Calabar), and another N3 billion counterpart fund contribution for the road.

Also, N7.12b is earmarked for the dualisation of Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja Road; N9.25b for the dualisation of Obajana Junction to Benin Road Phase 2 Sections I-IV; N7.5 billion for rehabilitation of Onitsha-Enugu dual carriageway; N7b for the construction of Bodo-Bonny Road, with a bridge across Opobo Channel; N3.3b for the rehabilitation of Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa-Bokani Road; and N3.5 billion for the dualisation of Odukpani-Itu-(Spur Ididep- Itam) – Ikot Ekpene Federal Highway Lot 1: Odukpani-Itu bridgehead.

Projects appropriated for in the North include the dualisation of Kano-Katsina Road Phase 1 at the cost of N1.5b; N2.24b for the dualisation of Suleja-Minna Road, Sections I & II; N2.3b for Gombe-Numan-Yola Phase II (Gombe – Kaltungo); and N2.7b for the construction of Kano Western Bypass Road.

Apart from capturing these projects in the 2017 appropriation, the Federal Government recently released proceeds of the N100b Sukuk bond for 25 key economic road projects across the six geo-political zones.

The Federal Government issued the debut Sovereign Sukuk of N100b in September 2017, few months after the Appropriation Act was signed into law. Of the N100b, FERMA is allocated N40b of which N25b is for capital projects. So far, only and of which, so far about N800 million has been released to it.

FERMA’s Head of Communication and Public Relation, Mrs. Maryam Sanusi, who confirmed these, explained that although the allocation was not sufficient given the enormous work the agency does, it is still intervening on all stretches of federal roads as much as funding permits.

She said: “Our 2016 contracts are still ongoing. Our direct labour works are still being carried out, and are all on federal roads.”