The Federal Government has concluded plans to purchase asphalt plants directly from manufacturers in Europe in order to effectively meet the challenge of road maintenance and construction in the country. Managing Director of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) Mr Olubunmi Peters who disclosed this to Sunday Vanguard in Abuja after his inspection tour of FERMA/Works projects in Borno State said: “already we have visited some manufacturers abroad to fine tune the process of the purchase”.
According to him, “while on the trip, we had the opportunity to interact with the manufacturers of asphalt plants, and you can see the level of new technologies taking place there”, adding, when we acquire those equipments, the story of roads in Nigeria would be different thing entirely”, he assured.
He said Federal Government is to acquire seven asphalt plants which it will distribute to all the FERMA zonal headquarters spread across the six geo-political zones of the country, with Lagos State having one due to the higher numbers of federal roads scattered in the state.
Engineer Peters assured Nigerians that funds being allocated to the Federal Controllers of Works to execute repairs, maintenance and rehabilitation of Federal highways under Operation 500 Roads would be judiciously utilized to actualize the Presidential mandate of pothole free and motorable roads nationwide.
The FERMA boss who was not comfortable with the prospect of the agency under the Federal Controller in the state, Mr Itim Ita Itim warned that any controller found wanting would be edged out to pave way for others who are committed and prepared to deliver.
He however expressed optimism that the agency under his leadership will leave no stone unturned to ensure that funds allocated for road maintenance were properly monitored and accounted for, adding “checks and balances adopted by the agency are among the best”.
He said approval has been given to the Auditor-General’s Office to go round the 36 states and audit FERMA accounts and projects, to determine the level of utilization of the monthly N10million allocated to the controllers.
Peters stressed that Headquarters Monitoring Team has secured the mandate of the agency to proceed on tour of projects nationwide with a view to ensuring probity, accountability, affirming that any mismanagement found will be decisive dealt with. He promised that management of the agency would soon embark on a thorough inspection and assessment tour of FERMA projects nationwide.
