Nigerian Senate has urged the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, consider an Emergency Intervention Fund to the tune of =N=300billion for critical roads in Niger State linking economic corridors in the North and South of the country.
According to the senate, consideration of the =N=300billion fund for emergency intervention on roads by the federal government would facilitate the infrastructure rehabilitation efforts of the present administration to support ease of business and economic recovery.
Senate also resolved that a National Legislative Roundtable on the State of Infrastructure for Economic Development be convoked, so as to bring all critical stakeholders in the transport and logistics industries together with a view to identifying urgent actions to address the current challenges.
The resolutions were sequel to a motion on matter of urgent national importance brought to the floor during plenary by Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi and co-sponsored by six other lawmakers
Senator Abdullahi, while coming under Orders 42 and 52 of the Senate Standing Rules noted with “disbelief and shock the very ugly scene playing out in Niger State since February 24 to September 2021 in which heavy trucks and tanker drivers blocked all entry and exit roads to protest the horrible state of federal roads passing through the state.”
He recalled that Niger State has the longest federal road network of 2,263km out of a total of 32,000km of national federal roads network. “The federal roads in Niger State stretched from the Abuja – Kaduna end to the Jebba – Mokwa – Makera – Tegina – Birnin Gwarimpa – Kaduna road to the Mokwa – New Bussa – Agwara – Kigera end which lies to the border with the republic of Benin.
“Overall, the following are critical linkage roads within Niger state that provide logistical and vehicular movements between the North and South; especially the South West and North West Corridors.
In his contribution, Senator Sani Musa accused the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola of neglecting the Niger State by not giving priority to the deplorable condition of roads in the state.
According to him, “Abuja – Makurdi road alone about =N=56 billion was allocated to it while only about =N=4 billion was allocated to critical roads in Niger State in the 2021 budget. This is nothing but bias.”
The Senate, in other resolutions, urged the federal government to declare a state of emergency on the critical roads in Niger State linking economic corridors in the North and South.
It also enjoined the federal government to direct the Federal Ministry of Works to carry out emergency stabilization of the failed portions of Bida – Lapai – Lambatta road to ease the current suffering and rate of accidents and loss of goods and investments in the road.
The Senate in resolution to the motion urged the Federal Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Budget to release funds for emergency repair of all federal roads in the country.
POWER SECTOR REFORMS.
Nigerian senate on tuesday passed for second reading, a Bill seeking to repeal the electricity power sector reforms Act of 2005.
The Bill has four major objectives including the need to make the sector more investor friendly & entrench healthy competition in the interest of electricity consumers in Nigeria.
Chairman of the senate committee on power, Senator Gabriel Suswan, while leading debate on the bill, expressed optimism that the post privatisation phase of the electricity industry would help to address the various challenges affecting stable power supply in the country.
According to the proposed legislation as highlighted by Senator Suswan, thirty sections of the principal Act are now invalid & redundant hence the need for a change.
Dominica Nwabufo
