The federal government has attributed its inability to complete
ongoing road projects to paucity of funds.
Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola stated this on
Friday.
Fashola noted that while the number of roads seeking
government’s attention for completion and rehabilitation keeps
increasing on daily basis “the resources required to fix them
remained grossly inadequate”.
He spoke at an interactive session of the Senate Committee on
Works with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and its
agencies.
He maintained that it was the responsibility of his Ministry and
its agencies to ensure that the roads in Nigeria were in good
condition, adding that “the inability to complete the various road
projects across the country was as a result of inadequate budget
and release of funds”.
Describing roads as national assets of any nation, Fashola
called on all stakeholders to come up with hard decisions on making
prioritisation of roads for completion and rehabilitationon the
basis of social and economic importance to Nigerians.
The Minister recommended the prioritisation of major link roads
across the states and the roads to the various sea and airports
across the country.
Fashola expressed optimism that with the calibre of the Senators
that constituted the Committee on Works, the challenges on Nigerian
roads would be overcome.