Nigeria’s Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has requested the sum of N100 billion as its intervention fund to repair roads damaged by the recent flooding nationwide.
The request was made by its managing director, Mr. Nurudeen Rafindadi, at the 2023 budget defense session with the Senate Committee on FERMA on Monday.
The FERMA boss revealed that it has already evaluated damages done on the affected roads across the states.
Based on evaluation: Rafindadi, speaking with the chairman of the committee, Sen. Gershom Bassey, on steps being taken by FERMA to re-fix roads washed away by flood across the country said the agency has carried out an evaluation, and that the sum is needed in its intervention fund to resume repairs.
- “FERMA has more significant roles to play in getting things right in the flooded areas in terms of creating access to emergency services. Without re-fixing, the damaged roads across the flooded areas, no relief material or emergency services can be given to victims. “Evaluation of damages done on the affected roads across the states have been carried out. We require N100 billion to re-fix the roads,” he said. He noted that the N31.6 billion envelope was given to the agency as capital votes for the 2023 fiscal year, citing that it was not even half of the N70 billion appropriated for similar purposes in the 2022 fiscal year.
- The committee assured the FERMA boss that the N100 billion intervention fund would be made available. For the record: It was reported last week that the FG, in efforts to fix roads destroyed by the recent flooding incidents across the country, the federal government has approved N506 billion to complete sections 1-4 of the East-West Road, granted during last week’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. The total contract sum for the remaining sections 1-4 of the road was increased from an initial sum of N246 billion to N506 billion.
