BY Favour Nnabugwu
Federal Government Tuesday set in motion modalities to generate N500 bilion annually from its highways.

This came at a time a proposal to restrict trucks and tankers to dedicated service lanes on Oshodi-Apapa Expressway was presented to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Mr. Mike Onolememen, Minister of Works, who disclosed this at the inauguration of Road Sector Reform Committee in Abuja, said the federal roads could only be effectively maintained and sustained through revenue generation model in order for the sector to play its pivotal role to the nation’s economy.

He said: “It is estimated that about N500 billion could be generated yearly with over two million jobs created nationwide.

“With a current asset value of about N5 trillion, there is need for sustainable development and maintenance of our country’s road transportation infrastructure to provide safe, reliable and free-flowing system for motorists and other road users in order to facilitate economic activities in the country.”

Onolememen who gave the committee six weeks to come up with draft policies on road transportation, said Nigerian roads could be sustainably managed if the country’s road users paid users’ charge and other road-related charges.

He said: “If Nigerians could just part with a little road related users charges here and there, we will all be in a better position to benefit from very good roads. Nigerians will have a pleasurable drive on our roads.”

On Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, the minister disclosed that his ministry had made a proposal to the President to have a dedicated service lane for trucks and tankers on the expressway in Lagos so the tankers and heavy duty trucks would not obstruct traffic flow for other vehicles plying the road.

He stated: “We have made a proposal to Government and we want to hold Nigerian Port Authority and tankers accountable for implementing the proposal because we believe they have no business on that road.

“We have also recommended a dedicated service lane for the users of tankers and trucks going to the port and tank farms. In that way, the exisiting Oshodi-Apapa Expressway will be free to normal vehicles.”

Amplifying the revenue generation drive of the federal government, the Committee chairman, Dr Bernard Obika, said modern day road sector reform no longer run on a charity.

Obika said: “I recognised the multidisciplinary road business reform. I mention the word business because road today is business. It is no longer, in modern days, a purely charitable venture

“Any sector that like the Nigerian road sector that has an aseet valued at N5trillion is big business and must be manged along a rigid business line in order to maximise efficiency.”



http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/fg-targets-n500bn-annual-revenue-from-highways/

I appreciate the need to facilitate the free flow of traffic by restricting trucks to one lane. However, there are a couple of things the government should do to limit the number of trucks on Apapa-Oshodi expressway: open up other ports in the country and let the local refineries work so that we stop importation of fuel.

Before making a revenue estimate on the roads, what's the government promising? Pothole free, well-lit, well-drained, well-marked roads?

Every single thing is going to be commercialised under this government, I do not mind the express ways being tolled, but, give us the roads first, why do they like putting the cart before the horse all the time?

Hahahaha,

I advice the Nigerian government to look into the toll road debacle currently going on in South African. 5 or 6 years ago our roads agency(SANRAL) told us that they will upgrade roads and then charge toll fee for the upgrade. Nobody complained, they were happy that the roads would be upgraded. Now that the upgrades are complete, people are complaining about the fee and they're refusing to pay hahahaha.

http://www.citypress.co.za/SouthAfrica/News/Toll-roads-Sanral-heads-for-collision-20111015

Not a bad idea though but in the hands of PDP and co., I am pretty certain its going to be messed up.

If you want good service, got to pay for it.

no long grammar.even us,uk,china etc have toll gates. Let's bring it back.Onitsha,nkpor,enugu road would nt have collapsed if d most intelligent man in 9ja OBJ did nt dismountle all d toll gates.PDP and policy reversal.

Sooner or later,Nigerians will pay for the air they breath.E ti rin nken nken.

Some may call this 'Hiighway robbery', and they wouldn't be far off the truth if the roads are not brought to pristine condition b/4 tolling begins.

don't worry guys, very soon yall pay tolls for untarred village roads. Heck we all paying tolls already in the form of area boys, police extortion and village touts. Now the government is going to add to that. And then all the money would be used to buy themselves new Ferrari and pay their dues to their slave masters in the person of foreign multinationals. I repeat what I have been saying here for years. The federal government cannot and should not run any organization. Resist this with great might because, no matter what they say or do; they wont change the state of our roads. Its just like making a gorilla the head of your banana plantation. Tell them to stop all the projects that they are doing. All they are doing is not less than a thieving bonanza for themselves. Imagine a military set up more than 50 years ago still buys all its weapons from abroad. Look at Nepa, Nitel, NNPC and a lot more. They are all textbook examples of complete failures. They deserve another grade below F9. say no to all this immoral criminal extravaganza. Wise up Naija. Even a two years old baby can organize people to put together a couple of blocks and start collecting money from people. This is the only ideas that these people have come up with since the emergence of the so called giant of africa. Say no to extortion, say no this childish initiative. They can come back to us when they have grown more brains.

so nigerians want to live like the brits and americans but dont pay road tax na wa o, una de enjoy o. if u pay road tax u get good road simples

I thought the money saved from subsidy removal was supposed to pay for this?

no long grammar.even us,uk,china etc have toll gates. Let's bring it back.Onitsha,nkpor,enugu road would nt have collapsed if d most intelligent man in 9ja OBJ did nt dismountle all d toll gates.PDP and policy reversal.

@cjfavour,
in those countries you mentioned above, could you please confirm also that they have steady power supply, good roads, quality education system, good hospitals, security just to mention but a few.
again, which of those countries in ur list has the type of crude oil we have or even 1 out of the 10 natural resource in nigeria.
abeg,get ur points right before u post.
we have a bunch a criminals as rulers.

Where is Sun_of_god?