Bad Roads: Reps berate FERMA

Nigerian roads not maintained by FERMA

The House of Representatives Committee on Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has expressed disappointment on FERMA over the deplorable state of roads across the country.

The committee also on Wednesday frowned at the non-usage of more than N10 billion by FERMA which was allocated by the Federal Government in October 2016.

The Chairman of the committee, Rep. Jerry Alagbaso, said at the opening of a two-day investigative hearing in Abuja said that Nigerians were worried over the inability of FERMA to leave up to expectations.

The committee frowned at the agency and mandated that a probe be made on how funds allocated to them and recruitment exercise in recent past were carried out.

According to some members of the committee, “each time FERMA management appears before us we are always disappointed because they do not give us the actual situation on ground.

“People are even saying we should pass vote-of-no-confidence on the Managing Director”.

The acting Managing Director, FERMA, Mr Peter Ibu, while pledging to make amends on their performance, said “lack of funding has been the agency’s major challenge”.

The Zonal Coordinators from South West while explaining their challenges said that maintenance had not been carried out in some major roads in Lagos since eight months ago.

They also said that no funds had been received from the headquarters.

Others said the funding and the awarding of contracts should be looked into.

A member of the committee, Rep. Yusuf Tajudeen (PDP-Kogi) questioned why the N10 billion released in October for the agency had not been utilised till date.

Responding, the acting managing director said they were authorised not to use the money by undisclosed authorities.

The committee after further interrogation went into a closed session that lasted for 30 minutes.

The two-day hearing was to look at the loopholes of FERMA and strengthen it particularly on how the agency could work effectively.

The chairman said that another hearing would be scheduled for next week.

(Nan)