The Nigerian Senate has called on the federal government to mobilise contractors to site to stem further destruction of the Benin-Auchi-Lokoja road.
This was contained in a motion sponsored by Senator Adams Oshiomhole representing Edo North who emphasised on the dangerous state of the Benin-Auchi-Lokoja road linking the South East and South South states to the northern parts of the country.
He noted that as a result of the continuous complaints of commuters, the contract for the reconstruction of the road was awarded to Dantata and Sowoe, Reynold Construction Company, Mother Cat and GIG company in 2012 by Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Senator Oshiomhole further stated that the federal government in January 2023 as part of the Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme Phase, further approved the sum of N75 billion to hasten the reconstruction of the road.
Senator Oshiomhole said: “Disturbed that the pace of work on the road has been very slow and certain portions of the roads have failed completely. This has become a nightmare to motorists because heavy duty trucks spend days on the same spot without movement thereby preventing smaller vehicles from navigating their way through the road.
This situation now compels smaller vehicles to opt for longer alternative routes through Ondo State totally out of their direction in other to avoid many kilometers of gridlock and sometimes inability to maneuver through the failed portions.”
He also vehemently criticized the difficulty that travelers currently encounter on the road.
“Transporters now hike their fares due to increased hours of time it takes them to arrive at a journey that they would otherwise spend less time to arrive at, thereby passing the buck to the passengers and travelers who now pay astronomically high fares to their destinations.”
The Senate therefore urged the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to grant approval for the augmentation of cost on the road through the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing pending the constitution of the Federal Executive Council for ratification.
It also urged the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to, as a matter of urgency, commence repairs on the failed portions of the roads just as it urged the federal government to provide adequate funding to complete the reconstruction of this road and to come up with a plan to settle all lingering issues bordering on the dualistic of the road with contractors and also review the terms and conditions of the contract to meet current realities of inflation.
