By Tom Okpe
The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to declare State of emergency on Naka- Makurdi-Aliade-Gboko and Aliade-Otukpo Federal Road, Benue State, linking Northern and Southern parts of the country, immediately.
The House also, called on the supervising Ministry to direct the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, (FERMA) to, immediately, commence restorative work on the road as a security and strategic economic imperative.
This followed unanimous adoption of a motion moved by Rep Austin Asema Achado, (APC, Benue) at plenary on Wednesday at the floor of the House.
Moving the motion, Achado said the Naka-Makurdi-Aliade-Gboko and Aliade-Otukpo Federal Road Network constitute major road axis linking the North East and the North Central regions of the nation to the South-South and the South- East through Benue State, the agricultural belt of the country.
The lawmaker said condition of the Federal road network has become an albatross and a huge embarrassment to the farming communities, other strategic users and commuters that transit goods through the state.
He expressed concern that the strategic road axis has become so dilapidated that it is now tagged death-trap and security threat to all contiguous citizens that use it for transportation of grains and yams from Benue to the Southern and Northern States of the federation.
Achado said: “From reducing those commercial activities as a result of high rate of accidents on the road and loss of hours, the poor condition has drastically increased activities of criminals, armed robbery and kidnapping, which have become more frequent, due to the poor condition of the road.
“Concerned that acute neglect of the road network has been ignored for so long despite the havoc it wrecks on the nation’s food security, especially at this moment of increasing economic pressure on the rural population, further fueled by growing cost of transportation, arising from recent fuel subsidy removal, making it imperative to urgently address menace of the Naka-Makurdi-Aliade-Gboko and Aliade-Otukpo Federal Road Network.
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“Convinced that an emergency intervention to restore the Naka-Makurdi- Aliade-Gboko and AliadeOtukpo Federal Road, has both security and economic implications that should be immediately addressed.”
Adopting the motion, the House urged the Federal Ministry of Works to ensure that adequate budgetary provision is made in the 2024 budget to comprehensively address the deplorable road, mandating the Committee on Works, (when constituted) to ensure execution.
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