By George Mgbeleke<\/p>\n
The Senate on Thursday passed a resolution demanding increased funding for the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA, and ordered emergency rehabilitation of critical federal roads nationwide.<\/p>\n
This followed consideration of the report of the Joint Senate Committees on FERMA and National Security and Intelligence on the Onyagede-Ogobia road off the Otukpo-Oweto highway in Ohimini Local Government Area of State.<\/p>\n
Presenting the report, Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator Abubakar Abdullahi (APC Kebbi North), said only 2km of the 28km road was still motorable after inspection.<\/p>\n
He said severe structural failure, erosion and poor drainage had made most sections impassable, disrupting transportation, economic activities, healthcare access, education and security operations in the area.<\/p>\n
The committee recommended immediate emergency rehabilitation of the road pending full reconstruction at an estimated cost of N15.06 billion, calling for improved drainage, erosion control and stronger security presence.<\/p>\n
To address connectivity gaps nationwide, the Senate adopted the recommendation to rehabilitate two critical federal roads in each of the 36 states and the FCT, totalling 74 roads targeted for intervention.<\/p>\n
Senators from Kogi, Lagos and Bayelsa States backed the report and urged prompt action on failed federal roads in their states.<\/p>\n
Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro (PDP Benue South) however cautioned colleagues to limit debate to the committee\u2019s report and file separate motions for roads in their constituencies.<\/p>\n
Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC Edo North), urged the Federal Ministry of Works to prioritise maintenance of existing highways over new construction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe federal ministry of works must be properly guided. While many existing federal roads have deteriorated beyond acceptable standards, attention is being shifted to constructing new roads,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Oshiomhole described the Benin-Asaba, Benin-Warri and Auchi-Abuja highways as strategic national corridors needing urgent intervention. He said sustained maintenance was key to national security, economic growth and movement of goods and agricultural produce.<\/p>\n
The Senate adopted all committee recommendations, including periodic legislative oversight and increased budgetary allocation for FERMA.<\/p>\n
It also commended President Bola Tinubu for ongoing projects such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Badagry-Sokoto Highway, describing them as transformative.<\/p>\n
Senate President Godswill Akpabio directed that copies of the report be sent to relevant ministries, FERMA and appropriation committees for implementation and budget consideration.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Red Chamber has embarked on its annual recess and adjourned sitting to Sept.15,2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke The Senate on Thursday passed a resolution demanding increased funding for the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA, and ordered emergency rehabilitation of critical federal roads nationwide. This followed consideration of the report of the Joint Senate Committees on FERMA and National Security and Intelligence on the Onyagede-Ogobia road off the Otukpo-Oweto highway […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15855,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15854\/revisions\/15855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}