Okodili NDIDI, Abuja
THE Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has attributed the inability of the ministry to complete ongoing roads across the country to paucity of funds.
Fashola noted that while the number of roads seeking government’s attention for completion and rehabilitation keeps increasing on daily basis, “the resources required to fix them remained grossly inadequate”.
The minister disclosed this in Abuja during an interactive session of the Senate Committee on Works with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and its agencies.
He maintained that it was the responsibility of his ministry and its agencies to ensure that the roads in Nigeria were in good condition, adding that “the inability to complete the various road projects across the country was as a result of inadequate budget and release of funds”.
Describing roads as national assets of any nation, Fashola called on all stakeholders in the works sector to come up with a hard decision on making prioritization of roads for completion and rehabilitation on the basis of social and economic importance to Nigerians.
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The minister recommended the prioritization of major link roads across the states and the roads to the various sea and airports across the country.
Fashola expressed optimism that with the calibre of the senators that constituted the Committee on Works, the challenges on Nigerian roads would be overcome.
Earlier, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, Senator Mohammed Adamu Aliero, stated that members of his committee would collaborate with the Executive to do the needful in addressing the challenges in the works sector.
As a way to address the challenge of funding, Senator Aliero suggested sourcing for funds through local and foreign investors by concessioning some of the major roads.
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