BY DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE- A former member of the Governing Board of Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA, Chief Adeyemi Adedipe Tuesday said the planned introduction of five per cent fuel tax to maintain dilapidated roads across the country was a welcome development.

Adedipe represented South-West on the board and was the Chairman of the Publicity Committee of the agency said this in Akure in a statement.

In the statement Adedipe said the “decision of the Federal Government to overhaul the management of road infrastructure in Nigeria through the introduction of far-reaching measures recently announced by the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, is a welcome development. This development should be commended and not condemned by all well-meaning stakeholders. Rather than relying on meagre budgetary allocations, citizens have to pay a token to ensure construction of new roads and maintenance of existing network and Nigeria should not be an exception.

“Effective road network is a very important aspect of modern societies and roads are like veins in the human body through which essential ingredients for growth are transported throughout the system. This has made road infrastructure a veritable tool for socio-economic development and all over the world, maintaining an effective road network is a gargantuan task that must be handled with all the seriousness it deserves.”