The frustrations being experienced by users of federal roads in Ekiti area of the federation have come to the fore.

Our correspondent reports that on Friday, travellers were stranded along the Igede-Aramoko-Efon Road on account of the bad stretch of the roads.

Ado-Ilawe-Igbara-Oke and Ado-Ikere-Akure roads didn’t fare better, as commuters were also stranded on the roads due to the number of trucks plying it, in addition to the poor state of roads, which worsened commuters’ experience.

Speaking on the issue, chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Federal Road Maintenance Agency, Femi Bamisile, said that the N460bn budgeted for construction and maintenance of federal roads in the 2021 budget and the N30bn allocated to FERMA have not been having positive effects on Nigerian roads.

The National Assembly member spoke at Aramoko Ekiti, Ekiti West Local Government Area of Ekiti State while addressing some angry travelers on Saturday.

Our correspondent reports that all roads, both state and federal, in Ekiti State which had become the routes for North and South-bound trucks in recent times, leave commuters spending three to four hours on the dilapidated 30-kilometre distance, in addition to becoming death traps and kidnapping zones.

Bamisile said, “I have moved round Ekiti and what I saw are disturbing. This situation is unfortunate and we have to find solutions to it.

“We learnt that a bridge got cut off at Jebba and these heavy trucks from the North and South now find Ekiti as the most convenient place to ply and that has further caused serious damage to both federal and state roads.”

Continuing, he said, “The Federal Ministry of Works got N460bn in the 2021 budget and N30bn was allotted to FERMA. This is too small for a body saddled with the maintenance and rehabilitation of roads across Nigeria.

“Nigerians cannot be treated this way. There should be a serious reform in the way our federal roads are being maintained. Let all the monies being allocated be structured accordingly, so that Nigerians can be rescued from this mess.”

Credit: Punch