The chairman of the House of Representatives committee on the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Honourable Aderemi Oseni, has lamented the state of federal roads across the states in the south-west.
The federal lawmaker representing the Ibarapa East/Ido constituency of Oyo State explained that the federal Ministry of Works and its agency, FERMA, have failed to deliver quality and motorable roads in the zone in the last few years.
Oseni, who spoke with newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital, at the weekend, expressed optimism that the National Assembly would do everything possible to ensure quality and effective road construction in the country through its oversight functions.
He stated that the committee would mandate FERMA and the ministry to place a high priority on the prudent use of allocations and quality assurance for road construction and rehabilitation, noting that the era of leaving roads in a dilapidated state was no longer acceptable.
Oseni, who regretted the hardship he faced while travelling from Oyo State to Ekiti, noted that the poor condition of the roads across the region was slowing down the socio-economic development of the southwest states.
According to him, “All projects that will be executed by FERMA going forward will be time-bound, and quality assurance will also be monitored.
“If you are talking about performance, FERMA of today must give an account of what they do on a regular basis; disbursement of funds should be related to job execution, and that is where we are going to start.
“To me, we don’t need to be crying any longer; God has given us the opportunity for new rebirth and hope in the new administration, and that is basically what we will begin to see in the few weeks and months to come.
“I was weeping seriously when approaching the Ekiti state capital from Ibadan to Ife to Ilesha down here (Ado-Ekiti).
You will ask yourself what exactly the federal Ministry of Works is doing; you will ask yourself where FERMA is; and you will ask yourself who was the contractor that executed these roads.
“That is where we are going to start; competence will be very important in any project that will be given out this time around.
“The minister of works has been saying a lot in this regard, and we are going to support him. We will give him the necessary support for him to succeed and ensure that the quality of our roads is something all of us collectively will pay attention to.”
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