joinnow:

If nothing is wrong with it
Why did OBJ removed all toll gate?

STFUand4kMeHARD:
The federal government is set to reintroduce toll on some roads that will be built or reconstructed.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN, made the declaration while fielding questions as guest on the popular Channels Sunrise Daily programme.

The minister said it would be pretentious to assume that the roads would get better if we continued to make our roads absolutely toll free. He added that, there would however be alternative roads to the ones that would be tolled.

Fashola declared, “We should stop being pretentious that roads can be had for absolutely free everywhere. There will be toll roads if we want to get out of this situation. There will be alternative roads as well so that people can choose.”

Fashola also talked about severance package for ex-workers in the three ministries. He explained that the record he met showed that about 50,000 such workers were due severance pay and that about 47,000 have been paid representing about 97 per cent compliance.

“Now, for me, it is a clear evidence of an intention and good faith to pay. Pensioners are about 5,000 and 3,000 have been paid; that is more than 50 per cent compliant. When I queried the reasons for the delay, they told me there was a verification process going on and the approvals they had to spend money on that process had expired. I gave them a new approval”, the Minister further explained.

He said the seeming delay in payment was as a result of the verification exercise going on adding that the verification was due to the allegation that when the payment started “people were altering records, issuing employment letters at severance point and backdating them to people who were not members of staff”.

“That is what has delayed this process. The money to pay is there but they said they are not going to pay until they are sure of the people they are paying. So that process is going on. It has to be properly done and when it is completed we will pay. These are the issues. So when people get angry or agitated, it is to do so in a context”, he said, adding that it is not an unwillingness to pay as some people have already been paid.

On the call for review of the privatization policy especially with regards to the Power Sector, Fashola, who recalled that the nation’s refineries were concessioned in 2006, noted that there was agitation then “by the voices that we are now hearing”, that they shouldn’t have been concessioned adding that as a result, the YarÁdua administration responded to that and stopped the process.

He declared, “I think our choice as a nation must be experiential. The YarÁdua administration responded to the agitation and stopped the process. But that was in 2007; where are we today, nine years after? We still don’t have the quality of refineries we want”.

“The Ministry of Petroleum just shared with us the hard work they are doing getting the refineries back on after about seven years. Perhaps, as you are aware, Dangote is now building a refinery. Perhaps if we had allowed that process, and I think Dangote was one of the concessionaires at the time”, he said.

Noting that government could start reviewing and nothing would happen, Fashola said in lieu of reviewing, focus should be “on getting what is on the ground to work”, adding, “And that is what I am doing, that is what I’ve told you about getting all the various power plants to work”.

Source:

http://www.punchng.com/53285-2/

eyeview:
Welcome to the style of governance of Fashola.
The man is one that always believe that if something must be achieved,the fee for it must be increased(regardless of what you've been paying for it and its actual ability to solve the problem).
This is a man who on assumption of office as a minister swore that until the power consumption tarriff is increased,regular power supply can't be possible. Today(against the directive of the NA and the wish of the consumers) he has increased the tarriff and yet the power supply has gone from bad to all time worst while we still pay the increased tarriff.
His modus operandi is this: He will promise heaven and earth once the people will accept the fee and taxation. Most people will accept it as long as the problem(like bad road or power outage) is fixed. You pay the new fee,he puts up a make belief solution,everybody accepts it and in no distance time it fells back to how bad is used to be but by then we have gotten used to paying the new fee(which ofcourse is shared by him and his masters and cronnies).
The man always run an inhuman policy that seek to impoverish the people further more.
Nigerians,we give you Babatunde Raji Fashola

modath:
Brilliant!!!

Even western nations that are far ahead of Nigeria after taxing income and petrol still collect toll, their roads won't improve otherwise!!

Oh you wailers, especially the ones that probably were still in primary school when we had toll gates , crying and blackmail won't solve it, this will happen!!!

BTW, some of us love the idea of toll gates and are thrilled... A place to chill when driving taya person or tire less or hot wee wee hol person.

erico2k2:

where did you get the idea that the bridge would be tolled? if they did wont we stick to the old one?

Kennydoc:


You guys ran GEJ down over the idea of tolling the bridge. Hope you haven't forgotten that. Igbos were insulted because a very crucial bridge GEJ promised them would be tolled.
Everybody knows that GEJ proposed tolling the bridge, so your last statement doesn't hold water.

obailala:
The most likely reason the roads would be tolled is because they would be built on a PPP basis. Private investors bring majority of the funds, build the roads and then recoup their money over many years through tolls. A typical example is the 2nd Niger Bridge project which is being built on a PPP basis.

And yeah, not that I encourage tolling, but contrary to your assumptions, in western countries, tolling of roads is a norm. Most roads in London are tolled (on weekdays only) as a means to encourage people to use public transport and decongest the roads.

obailala:
I am vigorously shaking my head in disgust at your display of ignorance regarding the PPP nature of the proposed 2NB. A simple google search would have saved you this embarassment.

woodcook:


Stop sending links.

Please take your time and reread this link you sent

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toll_roads_in_Europe

I have lived and traveled the Schengen countries extensively by roads and for the few that you will find toll they are usually for heavy duty truck. I have seen toll between Thessaloniki and Kavala and that cost about 2 euros. I guess you know what means in relation to their minimum wage.

As per minimum wage, you referred me to GDP, let me break this down to you, EU in total has the biggest GDP compare to any nations. In terms of sovereign states, Nigeria for instance has bigger gdp than say Belgium. I would suppose with your argument that Nigeria should fare better in terms of minimum wage and residual income. But the reverse is the case, which was why I insisted on minimum wage in relation to the toll.

So my dear we are all here to learn, it will be nice if you take your time and think logically about things, think it through but its intrinsic and extrinsic value in relation to a particular society.

We can write a whole essay on how comparing the proposed toll system to anywhere in the west you find any resemblance of a toll similar to comparing apple and oranges.

989900:
First provide good roads, electricity, water, health, and anything, I will pay, we (the reasonable ones) will pay, those that are complaining already pay more for bad roads to their auto mechanics, that is if they do not pay with a limb or their lives.

I have never changed my 'shocks' on any of my cars outside the country, but in 9ja, you change them like 'oil change'.

Charly68:
Only God knows why obj & his cronies demolished all the toll gates with unbelievable costs only for Fashola to come up with a new policy of toll gates now. What is wrong with our leaders self ?

WeNigerDelta:


Please please....Stop feeding people with lies because you don't understand how things in a place works fully...
Kindly show me a Federal highway, and Interstate in the US that has tolls...None from I-90, I-35, the famous Route 66...I can go on for days, no single toll on any...
Tolls are only in cities with large populations to help with the rush hour traffic...If you visit smaller cities and town zero tolls...
So please say what you know how you know it...

erico2k2:

where did you get the idea that the bridge would be tolled? if they did wont we stick to the old one?

erico2k2:

No road in LONDON is tolled,why spread wrong info? I have driven in London for 12 years.have you driven half a day

erico2k2:

Stop talking rubish,why should I take anything you say serious when you are here embarassing yourself talking crapp like all roda or most roads in london are tolled when infact NO ROAD IN LONDON is tolled.

skedobo:
Fashola though bright and intelligent, his governance and policies never favour the poor. He believes in taxes and levies not minding the repercussions it has on the masses. E.g PHCN tariff increase

yaki84:
baba God do something quick o for naija, d way naija hot eh n d way we r getting used to it can cause serious wahala in hell o.
cos e no go dey funny if nigerians in hell catch cold o even with the heat.
God do sommething abeg.

STFUand4kMeHARD:
The federal government is set to reintroduce toll on some roads that will be built or reconstructed.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN, made the declaration while fielding questions as guest on the popular Channels Sunrise Daily programme.

The minister said it would be pretentious to assume that the roads would get better if we continued to make our roads absolutely toll free. He added that, there would however be alternative roads to the ones that would be tolled.

Fashola declared, “We should stop being pretentious that roads can be had for absolutely free everywhere. There will be toll roads if we want to get out of this situation. There will be alternative roads as well so that people can choose.”

Fashola also talked about severance package for ex-workers in the three ministries. He explained that the record he met showed that about 50,000 such workers were due severance pay and that about 47,000 have been paid representing about 97 per cent compliance.

“Now, for me, it is a clear evidence of an intention and good faith to pay. Pensioners are about 5,000 and 3,000 have been paid; that is more than 50 per cent compliant. When I queried the reasons for the delay, they told me there was a verification process going on and the approvals they had to spend money on that process had expired. I gave them a new approval”, the Minister further explained.

He said the seeming delay in payment was as a result of the verification exercise going on adding that the verification was due to the allegation that when the payment started “people were altering records, issuing employment letters at severance point and backdating them to people who were not members of staff”.

“That is what has delayed this process. The money to pay is there but they said they are not going to pay until they are sure of the people they are paying. So that process is going on. It has to be properly done and when it is completed we will pay. These are the issues. So when people get angry or agitated, it is to do so in a context”, he said, adding that it is not an unwillingness to pay as some people have already been paid.

On the call for review of the privatization policy especially with regards to the Power Sector, Fashola, who recalled that the nation’s refineries were concessioned in 2006, noted that there was agitation then “by the voices that we are now hearing”, that they shouldn’t have been concessioned adding that as a result, the YarÁdua administration responded to that and stopped the process.

He declared, “I think our choice as a nation must be experiential. The YarÁdua administration responded to the agitation and stopped the process. But that was in 2007; where are we today, nine years after? We still don’t have the quality of refineries we want”.

“The Ministry of Petroleum just shared with us the hard work they are doing getting the refineries back on after about seven years. Perhaps, as you are aware, Dangote is now building a refinery. Perhaps if we had allowed that process, and I think Dangote was one of the concessionaires at the time”, he said.

Noting that government could start reviewing and nothing would happen, Fashola said in lieu of reviewing, focus should be “on getting what is on the ground to work”, adding, “And that is what I am doing, that is what I’ve told you about getting all the various power plants to work”.

Source:

http://www.punchng.com/53285-2/

modath:


There was no "law" guiding road tax, Obasanjo in his usual way of executive order made the declaration and that was that .

http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/main-square/792-obasanjo-abolishes-toll-gates-nigeria.html

The problem is ; "how do we even determine in a fuel subsidy regime how much "road tax" is? especially when no govt agency can accurately come up with a data of how much PMS is actually consumed ? DPR/NNPC/PPPRA have different figures each & every time..

I asked a question which you side stepped, " What has Ferma been able to achieve within the last 10 years? I can tell you for free- as as frequent road traveler -that the roads fell into complete disrepair after the removal of toll gates....

modath:

As for the other point about Toll, you only pricked Europe and left the US (I've been in a ride with someone in a big city and my "chauffeur" decided to take an alternative route to avoid paying the couple of dollars cos it wasn't rush hour) I can't claim to have traveled all the schengen roads in Europe but been in one country and witnessed a tolling situation of regular road users.....

modath:

I'm not emotional, I'm a realist, we can't compare our ways to the west's miles apart. i'll rather pay 500 naira fro Lagos to Akure than risk having a burst tire cos of a bad portion no one will take responsibility for!! Nigeria is a peculiar place!!

erico2k2:

Bro don't mind some busybodies here who have never buy ticket once in thier full life trying to act as if they know how, can U imagine He saying almost all roads in london are tolled when not one single road is tolled in London, not even tower bridge, Y should we pay tolls when we already pay road tax to maintain the roads I am waiting for him to name the rd in London that has tolls.This is how people just accept everything thrown at them without asking questions, why should govt toll the bridge?of what purpose would our taxes be paid for then?I once argued that the subsidy should not be removed as that's the only payment govt do that helps the common man rather they should fight the corruption within the subsidy payment and volume of supply.

woodcook:


Stop sending links.

Please take your time and reread this link you sent

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toll_roads_in_Europe

I have lived and traveled the Schengen countries extensively by roads and for the few that you will find toll they are usually for heavy duty truck. I have seen toll between Thessaloniki and Kavala and that cost about 2 euros. I guess you know what means in relation to their minimum wage.

As per minimum wage, you referred me to GDP, let me break this down to you, EU in total has the biggest GDP compare to any nations. In terms of sovereign states, Nigeria for instance has bigger gdp than say Belgium. I would suppose with your argument that Nigeria should fare better in terms of minimum wage and residual income. But the reverse is the case, which was why I insisted on minimum wage in relation to the toll.

So my dear we are all here to learn, it will be nice if you take your time and think logically about things, think it through but its intrinsic and extrinsic value in relation to a particular society.

We can write a whole essay on how comparing the proposed toll system to anywhere in the west you find any resemblance of a toll similar to comparing apple and oranges.

obailala:




- You claim and insists there are NO plans to toll the proposed 2nd Niger bridge
- You also claim and insist you live in London and NO roads in London are tolled

Firstly, I need to come to terms with the fact that I'm arguing with a person who has absolutely no idea and no clue about the plan to toll the proposed 2nd Niger Bridge for 25 years. The sorry part of your case is that even after being informed, you still stubbornly insist in wallowing in your ignorance, when you should have quietly done a simple google search to confirm and consolidate the knowledge and info being passed to you.

Then again, you claim you live in London, but obviously, living in london is not an automatic ticket to being knowledgeable or informed on all matters. You claim you have driven in London for 12 years but you haven't heard of 'congestion charges' in central London roads? This is however not unusual for people WHO DO NOT DRIVE, so stop lying to yourself and exposing further ignorance here, YOU DO NOT DRIVE IN LONDON.

Here is a link from the UK government's official website highlighting the tolled roads within the UK.
https://www.gov.uk/uk-toll-roads
Below is a link from the Transport for London website talking of congestion charges on London roads.
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge

I feel embarrassed having to even respond to your ignorant comments but I am only responding for the sake of others reading this. I dont expect these postings to make any sense to you because you have proven and re-proven yourself to be averse to knowledge and information; you obviously prefer swimming in your 'I live in London' ignorance.

woodcook:


Before embarking on tolling road users why don't FG push to address the 'illegality" of the 'road-tax" or are you saying that we should forget about it, keep taking money from the poor "illegally' and on top of that toll them again? If we have to move our society forward we have to first address some fundamental problems before building on an unsound foundation.
The point is so far as the masses have been paying the "road-tax" the FG is duty bound to ensure that the money is put to its intended use as long as that is not done there is no moral justification for tolling the roads. So the problem in FERMA does not justify the need to pretend that the 'road-tax" was never paid and impose same "levy" with a different name on the poor masses.



As per why I left US out there is a lot of reasons but the most trivial is, when it comes to how a society should be modeled I don't think the United State is a model society anymore. You may feel different about that is okay, when you take your time to study the different sectors of European economic in relation to the welfare of its citizen you will realize that the US is not really a society to look up to when it comes to collective good of the citizen.

I never claimed I have traveled all the roads in the Schengen countries ( please reread that line again ) but that I have traveled extensively by road in that region. As per the one country you have been in, kindly give me the name and the type of tolling system you witness ( how much was charged as toll and what type of vehicles were being charged and in terms of economic importance how important is the said road to the average citizen of the country)



It may be easy for you to fork out 1000 as toll for a trip from Lagos to Akure, if I recall correctly that with 18k minimum wage that mounts to about 5% of your salary on toll. Come on sister, let us be realistic, when we canvas about issues like this you don't based your argument on what you can afford but what is good for the larger proportion of the road users more are mostly poor. A better society is not that that caters for the needs of those that can afford it but that that sees to the needs of those that are less fortunate.

Ovamboland:


And will the price of imported machinery, bitumen and other inputs for road construction be priced relative to minimum wage or at international prices? Will the cost of maintenance align with minimum wage? The model you are proposing is tantamount to pot hole filled roads

eyeview:
Welcome to the style of governance of Fashola.
The man is one that always believe that if something must be achieved,the fee for it must be increased(regardless of what you've been paying for it and its actual ability to solve the problem).
This is a man who on assumption of office as a minister swore that until the power consumption tarriff is increased,regular power supply can't be possible. Today(against the directive of the NA and the wish of the consumers) he has increased the tarriff and yet the power supply has gone from bad to all time worst while we still pay the increased tarriff.
His modus operandi is this: He will promise heaven and earth once the people will accept the fee and taxation. Most people will accept it as long as the problem(like bad road or power outage) is fixed. You pay the new fee,he puts up a make belief solution,everybody accepts it and in no distance time it fells back to how bad is used to be but by then we have gotten used to paying the new fee(which ofcourse is shared by him and his masters and cronnies).
The man always run an inhuman policy that seek to impoverish the people further more.
Nigerians,we give you Babatunde Raji Fashola

erico2k2:

See how you just embarrassed yourself all cos you managed to buy MB on your phone , buy fuel to charge you phone and then post rubbish. read the links again, Non of those roads are in London from teh first link you posted, the dartford crossing I have only gone fru once in my life and that was by mistake, its one of the many branches of the M25,there are loads of plenty free route,there are other provision, its just quicker to link kent from there.This boils down to the fact that the Govt gave options and even as we speak they are losing money on that toll hence they sacked all the people Manning it and introduce ANPRs to clock VRMs of cars and I'm one of the people who installed the ANPRs
On your second paragraph the company I worked for also fixed the AMPRs for the London CONGESTION CHARGES. IT IS NOT A TOLL, read it again,Mini cabs, Black Cab taxis ,Hackney cariages are exempt from paying it, their VRMs are programmed into its database,people who live inside the Zone do not pay,People who work Inside the zone but live outside get up to %30 discount.people who live within a mile of it get up to %40.
I was asking you to tell me a name of a road in LONDON which is tolled.
Now let me state here there is no TOLL within London not one, only the inter city roads are tolled, check the very link you posted there is non of those road in london.
The M60 was built on PPP,it cuts the journey from the south to manchester in the North by up to 2 hours in some cases even more,ie faster, Now you do not have to go on it, you can stick to the the M40 route and go via Birmingham,there are loads of options up north.
BE INFORMED and stop posting rubbish that's my advice for you,learn to hold your govt to account dont just swallow everything the throw at you, they have a civic duty to make life easy for you as you pay tax.

DaBullIT:




If you are going to insult people , at least do it right

Fash-ole and Thief-ubu


When you are done with that, go to bank and ask for you 2 Million naira cheque that's paid out upon insulting two ex governors


When an elderly man dances with corn tied to his waist , he becomes a comedian for the chickens

That's what you turned yourself to

obailala:
Your unintelligence is quite provocative. How can a human reason so lowly?

First you claim roads in the western world are not tolled, I showed you examples of several major UK tolled roads and also explained to you how several roads are tolled within London in the form of congestion charges. Then you switched your argument by claiming the major roads I mentioned in the link are outside London. This is the very first case of you admitting shamelessly to your originally intended deceit where you claimed that roads aren't tolled in developed nations.

By the way, what's the meaning of the rubbish you spewed about the Dartford crossing not being a tolled road because the tolling system uses ANPR technology?.... What do you also mean by saying congestion charges aren't tolls?... Can you drive through the roads for free?.... can I drive through those roads for free?... Your argument is that people who live within the area, and cab drivers who pass often are granted discounts in the payment?.... Do you even listen to yourself and your meaningless inconsistency?.... Or probably in your own wisdom, you assume a tolled road must have a toll gate manned with humans as we do in the 3rd world right?... If payment for using the road is not taken by humans, then such a payment for using the road cannot be called a toll?

Abeg am I the only one reading these rubbish you've been posting all day?.... I really wish someone would come and rescue me from this your torture by telling me you are simply playing with my head.

woodcook:



It may be easy for you to fork out 1000 as toll for a trip from Lagos to Akure, if I recall correctly that with 18k minimum wage that mounts to about 5% of your salary on toll. Come on sister, let us be realistic, when we canvas about issues like this you don't based your argument on what you can afford but what is good for the larger proportion of the road users more are mostly poor. A better society is not that that caters for the needs of those that can afford it but that that sees to the needs of those that are less fortunate.