The Federal Road Maintenance Agency has announced that majority of Nigeria’s roads and highways, which have been dubbed “death traps” for years, are now outdated and require continual upkeep.
This was revealed on Saturday in Kaduna at the 10th Mahmud Armiya’u memorial lecture and award presentation, which was hosted by the Kaduna branch of the Nigeria Society of Engineers. Nuruddeen Rafindadi, the managing director and chief executive officer of FERMA, made the announcement.
The topic of the talk was “Topical Issues In The Transportation Sector.”
While describing the poor condition of the country’s roads and highways, the FERMA boss pointed out that several of the roadways had, regretfully, outlived their intended lifespans.
Rafindadi, who spoke through the Kaduna Head of FERMA, Atiku Sadiq on the topic, ‘Utilisation of Our Highway Capacity, Prospects and Challenges,’ said, “Most of the nation’s highways have expired. What we are doing now is managing our expired highways that are supposed to be built to last for 15, 20 and at most, 25 years. But we are having highways that were built to last for 40, 50 to 60 years.
“We need to devise a way of maintaining our roads, and it requires planning.
“Despite the noticeable benefits of highway development to the socioeconomic and political affluence of Nigeria, and its huge capital investment, highway transportation is still faced with numerous management and operational challenges in the country.
“These challenges majorly stem from man-made and natural causes, which could be deficiencies in the supply and distribution of traffic; inadequate provision of infrastructural facilities, faulty carriageways, poorly designed or unavailable drainage systems, thereby, causing washing away of pavements, collapsed hydraulic structures, and noticeable surface failures.
“These challenges have significantly reduced the utility and performance of highways.”
On the way forward, the FERMA boss said, “The most effective way to maintain the operational capacity of roadway is to ensure preventive maintenance to nip failures in the bud, and sustain pavement surface maintenance to keep the carriageway in serviceable condition.
“This is only possible with enough funding alongside adequate and well-trained manpower, as well as creating awareness and adequate education of drivers, especially commercial on road discipline.”
