New Bill to Scrap FERMA Coming, Says Minister
23 Feb 2013
By Patrick Ugeh
The Federal Government is proposing a new Road Sector Reform Bill that
will oust the Federal Emergency Road Management Agency (FERMA).
In its place will be the Federal Road Authority (FRA) and National Road
Fund, which will take charge of road maintenance and ownership, thereby
signalling the eventual death of FERMA.
The Minister Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, who spoke Friday during the
opening ceremony for a two-day workshop to consider the Road Sector
Reform Bill, explained that FERMA was merely a stop gap measure.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government had towards the end of
2011 constituted a committee for the Road Sector Reform chaired by Dr.
Bernard Obika.
He said, “In 1996, when we had conference in Abuja and it was decided
that African continent should reform the administration of the road
sector. One of the cardinal recommendations was that a road authority be
created that will oversee road development in African countries, just
as we have Port Authorities all over the continent.
"But in our usual manner in this country some interest crept in when we
were carrying out our own reform and we just did it half-heartedly and
that led to the creation of FERMA. With all intent and purpose, FERMA
was like a stop-gap”.
According to the minister the present administration would, through
this road reform, proved that it had the political will to do what is
right.
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