The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), has said that it would continue discharging its mandate of regular maintenance of the 16 existing federal roads covering 1,275 kms in the state.
Mr Nanfan Joroh, Roads Maintenance Engineer in charge of its Bauchi office, said this while addressing participants at a one-day workshop with the theme: “The benefits of stakeholder engagement in road management and maintenance.
Joroh said the agency, under the COVID-19 intervention, had executed five different road projects, including, Kari to Yana, Bauchi-Kari to Yobe State border, Bauchi to Ningi, Bauchi to Tafawa Balewa and Bauchi, Katagum to Gamawa.
He added that the agency had also awarded capital projects for the general maintenance of the Bauchi to Jos border, Bauchi to Gombe, Bauchi to Tafawa Balewa and Bauchi to Ningi.
According to him, the projects also included the reconstruction of damaged culverts, bridges and embankment.
Joroh explained that the agency was battling the challenges of insecurity, especially when working at nights and, therefore, called on the Police to provide cover, to make workers feel secured while doing their jobs.
He also said that other obstacles hindering the operations of the agency were lack of a befitting field office, operational vehicles and the naturally occurring disasters such as flooding, which ravages the roads.
Earlier, the guest speaker, Mr Mike Oluwagbemi, a civil engineer, said roads as critical infrastructure were important in connecting communities, enhancing transportation and promoting economic activities.
Oluwagbemi, a staff of Loftyinc Ltd., a consulting firm, said that road maintenance was imperative to national development, hence the need for private sector participation.
He commended the Federal Government under the present administration, for its priority attention on infrastructure in the country.
Oluwagbemi explained that out of the 200,000 kms of road network in Nigeria, only 34,000 belonged to the federal government, as against the 90 per cent of trunk B and C roads belonging to the state and local governments respectively.
He said road maintenance was a collective responsibility, hence the need for collective actions by all stakeholders to ensure that the roads were motorable, while identifying population explosion, human attitudes and pressure, as some of the negative trends affecting the roads.
“Indiscriminate erection of speed beakers, abuse of pavements, water ways and deliberate creation of potholes are some of the bane on our roads,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by FERMA in collaboration with the consulting firm, Loftyinc Ltd.
Participants at the event were drawn from the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Police, among others. (NAN)
