FERMA needs N700bn annually to maintain federal roads — Minister

The Minister of State for Works, Mohammad Goronyo, has expressed concern that the current budgetary allocation to the Federal Emergency Roads Maintenance Agency is grossly insufficient.

Goronyo attributed this to the critical role the agency plays in maintaining and repairing roads across the country, as well as the vast scale of the task it is responsible for nationwide.

According to him, the agency requires over N700bn annually for its nationwide maintenance.

Goronyo, who is the supervising minister of the agency, made this statement during his opening presentation at the budget defence before the joint session of the Senate and House Committees on FERMA.

A statement from the FERMA Director of Information and Public Relations, Maryam Sanusi, and the Director of Press and Public Relations, Mohammed Ahmed, released on Wednesday, stated that the agency defended its budget proposal of N64.88bn, comprising N4.9bn for personnel costs, N33.468bn for overhead costs, and N26.487bn for capital costs for the 2025 fiscal year.

It noted that this amount is lower than the N77bn proposed for the year 2024.

The statement added that the budget prioritised major trunk A roads within the six geopolitical zones, in alignment with President Bola Tinubu’s development and economic recovery objectives under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

The minister of state for works stated that N96.7bn had been allocated to FERMA in the Act of 2024, which was later increased to N103.3bn by Mr. President.

He said that only N41.282bn had been released from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation to the agency, out of which N40.287bn has been utilised to date.

Goronyo assured that FERMA is committed to ensuring transparency and accountability, using data-driven decision-making and regular community engagement in road maintenance planning.

He disclosed that in collaboration with the committees and key stakeholders, efforts are being made to reduce the burden on the federal government for maintaining road assets nationwide.

However, he lamented the paucity of funds, stating that an oversight visit by the committee on 7th March 2024 had observed that the annual budget allocation to the agency is grossly inadequate to cater to the enormous task of maintaining the nation’s extensive network of federal roads, which will require over N700bn.

He said, “I want to implore this esteemed committee to support the agency to ensure the sustainability of road infrastructure maintenance. Increased financial support will ensure the scaling up of preventive maintenance and the promotion of sustainable road maintenance practices.”

“FERMA is in the process of developing, modifying, and redefining key policies to generate resources for the agency to proactively maintain our roads for the ease of movement of people, goods, and services. But the yearly budget allocation is grossly inadequate to cater to the enormous task of maintaining the nation’s extensive network of federal roads, which will require over N700bn annually.”

Goronyo further expressed gratitude to members of the committees for their unwavering support in ensuring the sustainable development and maintenance of federal road infrastructure in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda to enhance infrastructure and transportation as enablers of growth.

In his opening remarks, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on FERMA, Hussaini Babangida, criticised the practice of constructing new roads without adequate measures to maintain existing ones.

Babangida revealed that the committee was taken aback when they saw the proposed budgetary allocation to FERMA, wondering why so much attention is paid to the construction of new roads at the expense of maintaining the existing ones.

“If we agree that roads are enablers of growth and development, then there must be a need to interface with all stakeholders to find lasting solutions to this perennial issue of poor funding,” he opined.

In his presentation before the committees, the Managing Director of FERMA, Emeka Agbasi, reiterated the agency’s paucity of funds and detailed its performance in line with its Key Performance Indicators, including the length of roads maintained, the area of potholes patched, the number of potholes washed out and reinstated, the number of bridges reinstated, and the number of direct and indirect jobs created.

He noted that adequate funding is needed to enable the agency to increase its activities in preventive maintenance and other interventions on federal roads across the country.

Other challenges Agbasi enumerated that the agency is facing include the age of the roads. Many of these roads were constructed in the early 1970s and now require total rehabilitation.

He also stressed that abuse of the roads by Nigerians is another factor that reduces their lifespan.

Agbasi also informed the committee that equipment worth N3.3bn, donated to the agency by the government of Japan, would soon be commissioned as part of the achievements recorded in 2024.