BY EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

KADUNA—MEMBERS of the  Federal House of Representatives on an inspection tour of  federal roads in North West Nigeria, yesterday, advised the Federal Government to give priority to  federal road projects nationwide.

This advise was given during an inspection tour of federal roads in Kaduna and Kano by members of the House Committee on Works.

Mohammed Ali  Wudil, Deputy Chairman of Works Committee and  leader of the delegation noted that ”the Federal Government should as a matter of urgency start giving priority to federal roads all over the six geo-political zones of the country. “

He said: “There is nothing wrong if the Ore-Benin road is prioritised, the 9th Mile road project, the Lagos Ibadan Expressway, the Kano-Maiduguri and the Abaji-Lokoja-Abuja roads.

”A situation where so many road projects  are being pursued at the same time will no way help us to grow because they largely remained uncompleted projects.”

”All the Federal Government   need to do is to ensure that year in year  out certain  federal roads are given priority, not a  situation whereby a road like the Lokoja Abaji  road in the last ten years has remained largely uncompleted.

”If we priotise our road projects there will be remarkable improvement before you know it most of our roads will be motorable ,  but today we have a plethora of roads in all the zones uncompleted.

”Poor funding of roads is equally a major minus because there are roads earmarked to cost N15bilion and you release N1billoon annually what that translates into is that the road in question will last 15 years before it is completed.

”Poor funding of these road projects has remained the bane of this country and there is urgent need for a rapid transformation in this direction.”