Presidential assent to FRA, NRF bills crucial to national development, says Okoye

Chairman of the Technical Committees for the review of the Federal Roads Authority (FRA) Establishment Bill and National Road Funds (NRF) Bill of 2017, Chris Okoye is urging President Buhari to grant assent to the FRA Bill 2018 and NRF Bill 2017.

Okoye who was also the Chairman of the Technical Committee for the review of the National Transport Commission (the regulatory platform for the entire transport sector in Nigeria) Bill in 2016 also appealed to the National Assembly to pass the version of the Bill that was submitted by his committee on the National Transport Commission Bill and to transmit it to the President for his assent.

He reiterated that the key reasons for the Reform of the highway Sector, as captured in the Bills, are to create an enabling environment for private sector participation in the development of the sector, create a regulatory platform for the sector, delineate the roles of policy generation, implementation and regulation, create a sustainable fund for the maintenance of the national roads and to uphold the road users as a prime agent in highways development.

Okoye pointed out that if the President assents to both bills, it would put an end to the chaotic state of affairs in the transportation sector. He said that any further delay in the implementation of the reforms of the highway sector will mean that Nigerians will continue to spend over 80 billion Naira yearly repairing their vehicles as a result of the terrible situation of Nigerian roads and incur avoidable additional production costs because of the phenomenal amount of money they are forced to spend on logistics.