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Urges Tinubu to address deplorable roads across the country
From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
The Senate has called on President Bola Tinubu to include the Northeast region in the Renewed Hope road construction projects, saying the region’s inclusion in the infrastructure plan will boost its economic activities.
While commending the president for embarking on “ambitious and laudable projects that would go a long way to guarantee the socio-economic and political wellbeing of the citizenry of this country,” they also urged the federal government to, as a matter of necessity, approve the rehabilitation of all deplorable roads across the country.
The lawmakers adopted these resolutions after approving the resolutions of a motion sponsored by Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central) during plenary on Thursday.
Moving the motion, Goje highlighted the glaring disparity in the allocation of road projects across geopolitical zones. He stated that, though it is commendable that President Tinubu’s administration approved ₦4.2 trillion for nationwide road infrastructure, the Northeast had been largely overlooked in the Renewed Hope Superhighway Project.
Going further, he recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC), in its February 3rd meeting, approved funding for various highway projects aimed at addressing the country’s poor road network and boosting economic development. A breakdown of the project list, he said, revealed that the Northeast was allocated only two projects: Yola – Fufore – Gurin Road (Adamawa State) – ₦11.81 billion, and Karim Lamido Road (Taraba State) – ₦7.68 billion.
Senator Goje noted that aside from these two, several crucial road networks in the region remain in deplorable conditions, including Bauchi – Gombe Road, Biu – Gombe Road, Potiskum – Gombe Road, Darazo – Gombe Road, Numan – Jalingo Road, Yola – Mubi Road, Yola – Michika – Madagali – Gwoza – Bama Road, Biu – Gombi – Mararaba Road, and Biu – Damboa – Maiduguri Road.
The former Gombe State governor argued that the Northeast is the only region without a direct connection to the Superhighway Project, despite its strategic importance in national development and security.
In his remarks on the motion, President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, decried the poor maintenance of road infrastructure across the country and called for a strategic roadmap on the construction and maintenance of roads. He opined that no matter how many roads are constructed, without maintenance, they will eventually break down and join the multitude of bad ones already in existence.
“I believe strongly that if previous administrations in Nigeria had really done a serious roadmap on road construction and rehabilitation, we wouldn’t have had this problem.
“I think we should have a roadmap on how to maintain our roads and ensure their reconstruction.
“We’ll continue to have these kinds of issues even if we declare a state of emergency on road rehabilitation and construction, but there has to be a plan on maintenance.”
“Take for example,” he added, “the road linking Akwa Ibom State with Cross River State was done in 1975, but with a provision that there should be an overlay in seven years; 40 years after, that overlay was not done.”
On his part, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Sen. Sani Musa (Niger East), called for a wholesale repair of roads across the country.