Dr. Emeka Agbasi, the Managing Director of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), revealed on Thursday that N300 billion is needed yearly to maintain federal highways around the nation.
He made this claim during an interactive session called by the House Committee on FERMA, which was presided over by Hon. Aderemi Oseni. Oseni claimed that “the public’s perception of FERMA is one of inefficiency, corruption, and ineptitude.”
He restated the Committee’s determination to revitalise, realign, and restructure the organisation in order to successfully carry out its purpose.
Reiterating measures to counteract non-technical staff bias, Engineer Agbasi said that the agency’s staff personnel roll-call is imbalanced in favour of non-technical people.
The FERMA helmsman bemoaned that the current budgetary appropriation (for 2023) is far less than the required target, with less than 50% of the total appropriation released so far. The helmsman also noted that the budgetary appropriations are currently grossly inadequate, according to the document submitted to the Committee.
In addition to the ninety projects that the agency awarded in 2023, no fewer than two hundred additional projects are reportedly in the process of being awarded, according per the document obtained by the Nigerian Tribune.
The Agency completed 85 road projects valued at N132,288,002,695.20 and 79 projects valued at N17,144,883,320.78 through budgetary allocation and intervention for general maintenance and special repairs. The 53 projects completed by direct labour consumed N3,218,445,391.07.
Dr. Agbasi revealed plans to increase the current level of operational funding outside of budgetary provisions in an effort to address the issue of inadequate funding holistically. These plans include seeking support and interventions from domestic and international donors like the Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (NIAF), Japanese Grant Aid, SANDRAL from South Africa, USAID, and NHAI of India, among others.
Additionally, he said that the organisation is looking into receiving multilateral international financing from the UK Export Finance Credit Facility (UKEF).
These include funds that have been confiscated from the current administration’s anti-corruption campaign, as well as targeted special intervention funds through the Natural Resources Fund and the Ecological Fund.
Prior to this, Hon. Oseni made the following statement: “It pains me to report that our roads have degraded to an unbearable level, causing immense suffering for our fellow Nigerians, impeding economic growth, and damaging our country’s reputation.
The public’s perception of FERMA is one of incompetence, corruption, and inefficiency. As representatives of the people, it is our responsibility to take decisive action to solve this issue and make sure that FERMA becomes a ray of hope for Nigerians. This is a fact that we cannot ignore, and as such, a perspective that needs to alter.
“The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary goal of government, as stated in the Nigerian Constitution.
As the House Committee on FERMA, it is our duty to preserve this idea by putting forth endless effort to upgrade our roads and guarantee the ease and safety of our residents.
“Let me say this clearly: The 10th National Assembly will not put up with FERMA doing business as usual. The days of significant budgetary commitments having little to no effect on maintaining roads have come to an end.
Our goal is to make sure that every naira that FERMA spends benefits the Nigerian people in a meaningful way.
“It is our sacred obligation as a supervisory committee to make sure that FERMA functions at the greatest level, produces measurable outcomes, and efficiently serves the Nigerian people.
We will hold FERMA to high standards for performance, value for money, accountability, transparency, and professionalism. This House Committee will also not hold back in using all available legal remedies to hold offenders accountable.
Hon. Oseni expressed optimism that the legislative intervention will help to improve road safety, lowering accidents and fatalities on Nigerian roads, while emphasising the need to provide improved road infrastructure, promote transportation connections, and facilitate economic growth.
Incorporating cutting-edge technologies and procedures, he continued, will boost road maintenance’s efficacy and efficiency, cutting down on travel times and enhancing the user experience overall.
He claims that appropriate legislative intervention will be used to solve some of the issues plaguing FERMA, such as insufficient funding, antiquated machinery, capacity issues, manpower shortages, etc., in order to find long-term solutions.
“Most importantly and urgently, this agenda aims to address the limitations in financial resources that hinder the agency’s ability to effectively carry out its mandate of maintaining federal roads,” he stated, acknowledging the budget issues faced by FERMA.
“Achieving financial sustainability and increasing spending for road infrastructure upkeep are two goals of the FERMA agenda for the 10th National Assembly.
In order to do this, FERMA and the legislative branch will collaborate to improve and develop the 22 recently discovered revenue streams.
