Roads Maintenance Agency in Nigeria-Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) is currently repairing the Kaduna-Abuja highway that has been plagued with potholes, Sani Abdulkadir, FERMA’s Chief Maintenance Officer in Kaduna, has said.
The agency is expected to complete the task before end of March this year. The road maintenance agency in Nigeria will as well provide the necessary support and logistics to ensure that the road is repaired before the end of the month.
The number of accidents on the highway have been steadily increasing leading to the decision to rehabilitate the highway and make it safer and less prone to accident. The cardinal responsibilities of FERMA is to ensure safe driving by Nigerians.
Motorists are urged to observe all necessary caution signs while driving to avoid accidents. The agency will make necessary arrangements to ensure that all federal roads receive attention and be kept in good condition for the safety of the nation.
On March 6th this year, it was a sad day for Nigerians as the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, James Ocholi was involved in a car accident and died together with his wife and son. Besides high transport costs in Africa’s most populous nation due to the roads conditions, the country also experiences over 5,000 premature deaths annually.
Over the years, Nigeria’s 194,000km roads network have deteriorated and now poses great danger to motorists. Bad roads have been the major cause for road deaths in Nigeria. The roads conditions have also pose economy growth threat, as it takes longer for goods to reach their intended destination.
The government is however concerned about the country’s infrastructure state and has plans to commit about US$1bn under the 2010 national budget to fix its transport infrastructure situation.
The government plans to commit about $1 billion under the 2010 national budget to fix its transport infrastructure. Analysts say at current funding levels, Nigerian roads will continue deteriorating, contributing to high transport costs in Africa’s most populous nation.
