Federal government appeals to state governments to take over federal roads

– The federal government has appealed to states to take over maintenance and repairs of federal roads

– This is in order for the financial burden on the federal government to reduce

– The appeal was made yesterday, July 20 after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting

The federal government has appealed to state governments that are financially buoyant to take over maintenance and repairs of federal roads in their domain.

The appeal came after the FEC meeting yesterday presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The government called on the states to help in fixing the roads so they don’t deteriorate to a far worse condition.

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The government’s stance was made known by the minister for women affairs, Hajiya Aisha Alhassan who was attending the meeting after a long absence due to illness.

The government’s appeal was informed by the approval sought by Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai who requested the federal government re-designate two roads in his state in order for his government to fix them.

The memo which was presented to FEC by the minister of power, works, housing and urban development, Babatunde Fashola, was expressly approved by the council.

Alhassan informed State House correspondents that the council was very pleased with El-Rufai’s request “because ordinarily, other state governors should have requested for permission to repair and be reimbursed.

“But he (e-Rufai) asked for outright handing over to the Kaduna State government so that they can take care of it as their own, and asked the (federal) government to complete the eastern by-pass ‎which is outside Kaduna linking the North-central to North-western Nigeria. That was also approved by the council because it is a welcome idea.

“The council also appealed to other state governments that can afford to take over federal roads to lessen the burden on federal government, to enable them repair and maintain roads as quickly as possible so that they don’t go into total deterioration,” the minister said.

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Meanwhile, minister of agriculture and rural development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has revealed that there are plans by the federal government to start charging farmers for what he called ‘protection fee’.

According to Ogbeh, the federal government had to come up with a legitimate arrangement to stop the abductions and killings of farmers so that they won’t take laws into their hands.

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