The Minister of State for Works, Mohammad Bello Goronyo, has expressed concern over the proposed N64.88bn budgetary allocation to the Federal Emergency Roads Maintenance Agency for 2025, describing it as grossly inadequate for the agency’s responsibilities.
Goronyo emphasised the agency’s important role in maintaining Nigeria’s enormous road network when defending its budget in the National Assembly in Abuja.
The Minister of Public Works issued a statement on Wednesday highlighting the gap between FERMA’s needs and available funding.
He added that FERMA was initially budgeted at N96.7bn for 2024, which was later increased to N103.3bn through the President’s intervention.
However, only N41.282bn of this amount was released by the Accountant General’s office, with N40.287bn utilized so far.
The N64.88bn budget that FERMA suggested for 2025 is made up of N26.487bn for capital expenditures, N33.468bn for overheads, and N4.9bn for personnel costs.
In line with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda’s development and economic recovery goals, the budget focuses on repairing key trunk A highways throughout Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
“The amount proposed for the year 2025 is significantly lower than the 2024 appropriation,” Goronyo noted.
“I want to implore this esteemed Committee to support the Agency to ensure the sustainability of road infrastructure maintenance. The benefits of increased financial support will ensure scaling up preventive maintenance and promoting sustainable road maintenance practices,” he added.
During a Senate Committee oversight visit to FERMA in March 2024, it was observed that the yearly allocation to the agency falls far short of the over N700bn required for effective road maintenance nationwide. Chairman of the Senate Committee on FERMA, Senator Babangida Husaini, voiced his dismay at the insufficient funding.
“The Committee was taken aback when we saw the proposed allocation to FERMA,” Husaini remarked.
“Nigerians are daily crying and yearning for the repair and maintenance of existing roads to facilitate both their movements and the transport of goods. If we agree that roads are enablers of growth and development, there must be a need to interface with all stakeholders to find lasting solutions to this perennial issue of poor funding,” he said.
The Managing Director/CEO of FERMA, Agbasi Chukwuemeka, provided the Committee with an overview of the agency’s 2024 budget performance.
He highlighted achievements based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), including the length of roads maintained, portholes patched and reinstated, bridges repaired, and direct and indirect jobs created.
However, Chukwuemeka also highlighted the challenges the agency is facing, including inadequate funding, aging and deteriorating road infrastructure, vandalism, adverse weather conditions related to climate change and the need to modernize the agency’s human resource department to keep up with modern trends in road management.
Chukwuemeka disclosed that the Japanese government has donated N3.3bn worth of equipment to FERMA, marking a milestone by 2024.
He said the assets would soon be commissioned to enhance the agency’s operational capacity.
As discussions continue, stakeholders are calling for a collaborative approach to address the agency’s funding gap and ensure the sustainability of Nigeria’s critical road infrastructure.
