Senate urges FG to consider N300b fund for emergency roads intervention in Niger

The Senate, yesterday, raised concern over the deplorable state of roads, urging the Federal Government to deploy an emergency intervention fund of N300 billion for critical roads in Niger State linking economic corridors in the North and South.

It bemoaned the deplorable state of critical roads across the country and resolved that a national legislative roundtable on the state of infrastructure be convoked. The proposed roundtable would bring all critical stakeholders in the transport and logistics industries together with a view to identifying urgent actions needed.

These were part of resolutions reached following a motion by Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger North). He said: “The Senate noted with disbelief and shock the very ugly scene playing out in Niger State since February 24 to September 2021 in which heavy trucks and tanker drivers blocked all entry and exit roads to protest the horrible state of federal roads passing through the state.

“Recall that Niger State has the longest federal roads network of 2,263km out of a total of 32,000km of federal roads. The federal roads in Niger State stretch from the Abuja – Kaduna end to the Jebba – Mokwa – Makera – Tegina – Birnin Gwarimpa – Kaduna Road, to the Mokwa – New Bussa – Agwara – Kigera end, which lies on the border with the Republic of Benin.

“Overall, the following are critical linkage roads within Niger State that provide logistical and vehicular movements between the North and South, especially the South West and North West corridors.”

He added: “Because of the massive land area of Niger State at 76,363km (representing about nine per cent of the total land area of the country), all movements from North to South substantially traverse the state.

“Indeed, the massive haulage of heavy industrial goods such as petroleum products, iron rods, cement, finished manufactured goods, machines and equipment, electronic materials and goods, building materials etc., in which trucks and tankers are overloaded seriously devastate the roads.

“Cursory observation and reports indicate that many trucks and tankers are loaded with up to 90,000 tonnes of goods and all vehicles are consistently loaded well above their approved tonnage.”