Exempting some motorists from toll fees unfair

An economist, Dr. Muda Yusuf, has lauded the tolling propositions on designated dual carriageways but called for the review saying exempting some motorists from payment may cause challenges.

The proposition stated that some categories of road users such as military and paramilitary and other MDAS are exempted from paying tolls.

Yusuf who is the immediate past Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry spoke about this in Lagos.

“We must move away from the culture of government agencies or their personnel not paying for public utilities.

“One of the biggest challenges facing the power sector today is the huge indebtedness by the military, paramilitary and other government agencies who do not feel obligated to pay for electricity. We should put an end to this culture.”

Yusuf said if the country must have good roads, the creation of funding sources outside the budgetary allocations is inevitable; pointing out that this is the best practice in most parts of the developing world.

He also identified the creation of a Road Fund as earlier contemplated in the National Road Fund and Federal Highway Authority Bill as a more sustainable solution to the funding challenge for Nigeria roads.

“This is the practice in most parts of the world. It is a principle which sets aside a percentage of fuel price for the purpose of financing road maintenance, rehabilitation and construction.”

He said this fund will be used to maintain all the roads both the federal, state and local roads. “We currently have an estimated 34,000km of federal roads, over 30,000km of state roads and over 85,000km of Local Government roads. The approach should be holistic.”