Fashola promises smooth ride for travellers

As the Christmas and New Year festivities approach, the Minister of Works and Housing Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has assured Nigerians that they will experience shorter and more pleasurable travel time during the season.

He said contractors have been remobilized to sites across the country to repair and restore portions of the roads affected by adverse weather.

Fashola, spoke in Abuja, while hosting the National Executive members and Trustees of the Public Transport Owners of Nigeria Association (PTONA).

He said the ministry had been meeting contractors since September to plan against the season, adding that the failed areas had been identified and contractors had been duly deployed to carry out special repairs and palliative works to facilitate better travel time.

Fashola, who recalled President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement that it was possible to lift 100 million

Nigerians out of poverty in ten years, said the entire transportation network of road, rail, air and seaports was important, not only to the President in realizing the vision but also the government and the country as a whole.

The President of the Association, Engr. Isaac Uhunmwagho, told the Minister that their visit was to declare their readiness, as fellow stakeholders in the transport sector, to collaborate in areas of enforcing laws and regulations that would protect the roads from premature damage.