The National Assembly has advocated increased budgetary allocation for the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA, for better roads.
This is contained in a statement by the agency’s Director of Communications and Public Relations, Mrs Maryam Sanusi.
The statement quoted the Chairman, Senate Committee on FERMA, Hussaini Uba, as speaking during a joint sitting of the Senate and House Committees on FERMA at the hearing of the FERMA 2023 Performance/2024 Budget Defence presentation.
Uba stated that FERMA could not meet up with the people’s expectation of making all roads motorable and safe for users because of the low budgetary provision for the agency.
According to him, the poor condition of federal roads nationwide is unthinkable and demands urgent attention to reduce the suffering of motorists.
He urged FERMA to put more in stakeholders’ engagement and publicity to facilitate its achievements, challenges, and aspirations to be heard and appreciated by the general public.
He said, “The poor condition of federal roads across the country is unimaginable and calls for urgent attention to ameliorate the suffering of road users.
“FERMA is doing a good job within the limited means, but it is not appreciated because the bit it is doing is only able to affect a small percentage of the people.”