Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Nuruddeen Rafindadi, has said most Nigeria roads and highways considered death traps over the years have expired and need constant maintenance.
Rafindadi disclosed this, on Saturday, in Kaduna State, at the 10th Mahmud Armiya’u Memorial Lecture and presentation of awards, organised by the state’s branch of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE).
The lecture had as its theme, ‘Topical Issues On Transportation Sector.’
Rafindadi, while painting the bad state of the nation’s roads and highways, maintained that some of the roads were built to last for certain number of years, but had regrettably exceeded their life spans.
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The FERMA boss, 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.
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“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.”
