FERMA Blames Bad Roads On Inadequate Funding

Many roads in Nigeria are in bad shape due to lack of proper maintenance occasioned by the paucity of funds at the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, the agency has said.

According to FERMA, poor budgetary allocations over the years to the agency are limiting its ability to adequately maintain Nigerian roads.

This came as the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, disclosed that the Federal Government was being confronted by funding challenges.

Speaking at the Nigeria-South Africa road transport infrastructure and public, private partnership initiative in Abuja on Monday, the Managing Director, FERMA, Nuruddeen Rafindadi, said there was a need for innovative alternative funding sources.

He stated that FERMA had been faced with severe shortage of funds over the years adding that this had hampered adequate maintenance of federal roads nationwide.

“Also, extreme weather conditions such as excessive floods due to heavy rainfall in recent years had also necessitated a paradigm shift towards the design, construction and maintenance for resilient road infrastructure,” he said.

Rafindadi added, “FERMA is willing to partner in the think-tank for the realisation of resilient road infrastructure in Nigeria.”

In his address at the event, the Senate president, who was represented by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Works and Housing, Adamu Aliero, expressed doubt if the government would be able meet the demands of Nigerians for better infrastructure.