In riposte to Obi, Tinubu directs maintenance of federal roads a day after being called out
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
His handlers may not admit it publicly – as usual – but within 24 hours news is out of Bola Tinubu having responded to the urging of Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) by directing the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to repair all unmotorable federal roads across the country.
More than 100 such roads are in a state of disrepair nationwide, creating death traps and hiking the costing of transporting goods and service to stoke up inflation.
FERMA board member Kenneth Ugbala (representing South East) disclosed on Friday that the President has given the agency marching orders to ensure that all federal roads across North and South are maintained.
The orders came less than 24 hours after Obi in his New Year message said Tinubu needs to travel by road to experience the condition of the highways and see the urgency in fixing them.
Obi made the pitch at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, citing how, when he was Anambra Governor, he persuaded former President Olusegun Obasanjo to take a trip with him from Awka to Onitsha on a federal highway which led to Obasanjo quickly approving the repair of the road which was dilapidated at the time.
Ugbala dismissed reports that South East federal roads do not receive attention compared with those in the North when he hosted journalists in his Okoffia hometown in Ezza South Council of Ebonyi.
His words: “The President has given us a marching order to make sure that all the roads in the nation are being attended to. Our idea is that there should be an aggressiveness in attending to that responsibility.
“If you watch from Abakaliki to Enugu you see that there is maintenance going on by FEMA. The insinuation that the South East zone was being neglected in road construction by the federal government is false and malicious.”
He said the Enugu-Onitsha road is under construction, including the 9th mile/ Gboko/Makurdi road and some others in the zone benefiting from the coastal road projects of the Tinubu administration which has accommodated many roads in the
South East in the 2025 budget.
“The nation is just like a basket, and there is food. Everybody is scrambling for more. But even if that had ever been in practice before we came on board, I know that South East roads are receiving good attention. We are benefiting from the coastal road too, the ring road.
“These are things that have never happened to us. From Enugu to Onitsha is under construction. From Gboko to Makurdi coming to 9th miles is under construction.
“So, I think South East, if ever we are neglected, I don’t think that the present administration is neglecting us. All we need is to exercise patience with our President and of course the Minister for Works [Dave Umahi]. We are going to get the best of this administration. That is why we call on our people to continue to support us.”
Ugbala, former Secretary to the Ebonyi State Government (SSG), advocated for a maintenance culture on road projects to ensure durability.
“We are aware that as a nation we need to work very seriously on our maintenance culture. Because the best is not only to build roads, the best is to maintain the roads. When you build roads and they are not maintained, you find out that we are losing everything we have.
“You can see maintenance going on from Abakaliki to Afikpo. We are still attending to it. Eight places need urgent attention. If you go across Abia to Enugu State and parts of Anambra, in fact, all the South East states are receiving attention.
“This year we want to improve what we have been doing. A lot of roads have been accommodated in the budget.”
Read also:
Obi tells Tinubu to travel on Nigerian roads to see urgency in fixing them
