Ministry brainstorms on state of nation’s dilapidated roads in Calabar

The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing yesterday began its 25th meeting of the National Council on Works to brainstorm on the state of the dilapidated state of roads in the country.

Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Dr. Famous Eseduwo, said the meeting with the theme, “Infrastructure As The Pathway For Prosperity,” holding in Calabar, Cross River State, was an annual event with highest policy formulating organ in the works sector.

He said the meeting was heralded by a two-day technical meeting of directors and permanent secretaries on the responsibility to create a solid and resourceful foundation by diligent review of the memoranda submitted and fine-tuning of recommendations for presentation.While calling on Nigerians to be patient with the President Muhamadu Buhari administration, Eseduwo explained that in the last one year, progress has been made on federal roads nationwide.

He said, “This meeting is like a ritual, it is an annual event and it is the highest policy formulating organ in the works sector, so you can see that the implementing setting will be reviewed in this meeting. “But on a general note, the implementations are going on, the problems we have in the road sector are myriad.

“The problem of roads development in the country and others is myriad, you won’t know that something is done until maybe at a reasonable level when you have seen the signs on ground, but I want to assure you that progress has been made from last year to now and we are still here because the problem still persists.

“We have developed the perspectives of looking at our problems in a continuous process. It’s a growing concern, so definitely, there are going to be challenges and we are there also to look at the challenges.”Speaking on the state of roads in South South region, especially the Calabar/Itu Road, he said, “The challenges are like a grown concern. We have a country called Nigeria and we can see that Calabar and Akwa Ibom are two states in South South zone and we have six states in the zone. “So, you can see that the entire road challenges cannot be taken at the same time. What is important is that something is going on at one point.

Speaking, Permanent Secretary, Cross River State Ministry of Works, Mrs. Ihort Achu, said the meeting does not mean the roads would be fixed immediately, but only to formulate and implement policies and if need be, change the old ones to fit current times.She said, “Sitting in this meeting will not construct our roads now. It is for us to discuss how to go about it. We have to think of different ways to go about it. Like if we used to use asphalts, but recently, they started talking of using cement to construct roads, so that they can last longer.”