Date Published: 10/25/09

24 th October 2009.

Press Release.

“HAND OVER MAINTENANCE OF FEDERAL ROADS TO STATES”, LAGOS AC ADVISES FG.

With the continued deterioration of federal highways, the Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress has, once again, tasked the federal government to hand over all federal highways to the respective states where they are situated for proper and adequate maintenance. The party says it took this position because it is becoming obvious that the federal government has given up on the task of maintaining the federal highways, which have become death traps and threaten the lives and well being of Nigerians.

In a release in Lagos, signed by the party’s Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the AC, Joe Igbokwe, the party insisted that states are best suited to give adequate and proper maintenance of roads in their respective territories and that since the federal government is not providing answers to this poor state, it should hand over the roads to the states for maintenance. It says that we cannot continue watching helplessly as our roads become impassable while the government sits and watches in utter helplessness.

“When we view the fact that the federal government has its hands in so many pies without satisfactorily discharging most of its responsibilities, we see no reason why it should hold tight to the maintenance of roads, where it had proved grossly incapable, we state that the only way out is for the federal government to build new federal roads and hand over the maintenance to the state governments where such roads are situated. In making this, we call that the federal government should also make available to the states the funds for the maintenance of these roads.

“The condition of federal roads in the East, North, West and South continue getting worse by the day. Countless lives and properties of Nigerians are wasted on these death traps and from all seeming indications, the federal government seems completely overwhelmed by the demands of our roads that they are doing practically nothing to redeem the deteriorating state of our roads. We believe that states where these roads are situated should be placed in a situation where they are held responsible for the maintenance of these roads. We believe that will restore these roads and save Nigerians from the carnages and mishaps occasioned by the worsening state of Nigerian roads.

“Lagos AC is scandalized that a road like the Benin-Ore Road has remained intractable for many years while passengers spend days on the road just because the federal government, as is presently ran, cannot maintain it. We state that this same pallid picture is spread all over the country as all federal roads are caught in the maze of disrepair and are fast becoming totally irreparable.  We believe that as it stands now, Nigerians cannot afford to play fruitless politics with such an essential facility as the roads while lives, properties and innumerable man hours are lost to the terrible state of roads in Nigeria.

“We call for a radical solution to this situation as the state of state-controlled roads are far better than that of federal controlled roads and in many instances, state governments have taken up the rehabilitation and maintenance of federal roads within their respective territories. We would want the federal government to experiment this idea with the Lagos-Benin Road where the states along the road will maintain the road for five years to know the viability of this proposal. We call for the overwhelming support of Nigerians to this demand so that our roads do not become totally dilapidated and to save the human and material losses on the so-called federal highways.”

Joe Igbokwe.

Publicity Secretary,

Lagos AC.