Senate wants toll gates re-introduced

By Ezrel Tabiowo
Abuja

The Senate in its bid to shore up revenue for road maintenance across the country yesterday urged the federal government to reintroduce toll gates on Nigerian roads, given that the scheme is in line with globally accepted best practices.
It made the call sequel to the adoption of recommendations of its Ad-hoc Committee on Works which investigated the total collapse of federal roads and the prevalent gully erosion sites.

Accordingly, the Senate also mandated the federal government to make provisions for repair of major highways in the 2016 budget, stressing that the existing state of the roads was deplorable and therefore needed urgent intervention.
It also urged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to introduce weigh bridges to protect roads and to discourage overtaxing highways that were not constructed for ferrying heavy vehicles/trucks.
The Ad-hoc committee, which is headed by Senator Barnabas Gemade, recommended that there should be rebuilding and constant maintenance of existing roads infrastructure.

In order to explore public-private partnership arrangements, the Senate also invited the management of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to brief it on the state of federal government’s concessioning agreements.
Deputy Majority Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah (Kebbi/APC), in his contributions, said: “Government must partner with the private sector in order to develop our roads. In the developed worlds, people pay toll fee. Nigerians must pay the price.

It is a global practice. Nigeria should begin to think in that direction. As lawmakers, let us look at Nigerians and tell them the truth. It is impossible for government to provide good roads everywhere.”
In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, said: “It is clear that government alone cannot fund road construction. It is therefore important to re-introduce toll gates along major highways in the country.”