By Correspondent in Abuja.
The Speaker, Kogi State House of Assembly,Prince Matthew Kolawole, has urged the Federal government to repair federal roads in the state, regretting that such facilities had caused hardship to motorists and other road users.
He gave the advised when he led the Assembly Committee on Works to Abuja,to intimate the Minister of Works and Housing,Mr Babatunde Fashola, on the deplorable condition of such roads in the state.
Kolawole said the visit was sequel to the resolution of the Assembly on the deplorable state of federal roads in the atate which he noted had hindered smooth movement of goods and services.
The speaker explained that despite the efforts of Governor Yahaya Bello-led administration to fix some of the federal roads, the state lawmakers found it expedient to call on the federal government to come to their aid in fixing the federal roads across the state.
He said the deplorable state of the federal roads in the three senatorial districts of the state had become worrisome, causing a lots of havoc to motorists.
According to him,Kogi State is bordered by nine states, including the FCT and centrally located within the country as well as being a major link between north and southern region.
Citing the Kabba-Citing Obajana-Lokoja road,close to Apata community, which has caved in, the speaker told the Minister that the problem had resulted in traffic jams and blockage for commuters plying the route.
Receiving the speaker and his entourage, Fashola said the Federal Government had given Dangote company approval to reconstruct concrete road from Kabba to the boundary between Kogi and Ekiti states.
According to him, the federal government had committed huge resources to road construction, maintenance and rehabilitation, over the years, noting that the ministry was working on 14 federal roads that either linked Kogi state or passed through the area.
He added that 17 special interventions were also ongoing with the repairs of bridges
He explained that the ministry’s goal was to fix all federal roads in the country at once but that it had been limited in realising that objective due to limited resources, and effort to meet other needs that were also important to human existence.
The Minister expressed the commitment of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to infrastructure renewal, a development he said necessitated government borrowing to finance most of the ongoing critical projects across the country.
