Rep urges Buhari to sign the roads authority bill

President Muhammadu Buhari should sign the Roads Authority Bill into law to transform the roads sector that has remained comatose over the years, a House of Representatives member has said.

Toby Okechukwu, who chairs the House Committee on Works, said the President stands the chance of re-writing history of the Nigerian roads sector if he endorsed the bill.

He said the bill, which has been passed by both chambers of the National Assembly, would ensure that roads in the country were managed in accordance with other advanced jurisdictions.

“This piece of legislation has been on a legislative sojourn since 1971 and has failed to see daylight until we decided to take the bull by the horns and passed it just last week.

“We had earlier on passed the Roads Fund Bill, these are fundamental reform bills that will make it possible for us to perform in accordance to what happens in other jurisdictions.

“It means the road sector will now be functional, they would be able to raise funds through other sources, they will be able to commercialize the roads, they would have road user charges that would eventually seed capital for funding the road sector.

“What we have presently is a situation where because of the life span of the construction of our roads, a road that is supposed to be constructed within two years takes between five and ten years,” he said.”

Okechukwu said the bill would manage the federal roads network for safety and efficiency with a view to meeting the socioeconomic demands of the nation.