Senate Calls for Re-introduction of Toll Gates

Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja
The Senate yesterday asked its Committee on Works along with relevant stakeholders to study the policy setting up toll gates in Nigeria and come up with effective ways of generating funds for road construction and maintenance.

The resolution on tollgates was the aftermath of a motion by Senator Suleiman Nazif (Bauchi North) seeking the re-introduction of toll gates on the nation’s highways.

According to him, the whole essence of creating toll gates is to generate revenue for effective road maintenance as he lamented the deplorable state of roads in Nigeria which he described as national shame and unnecessary embarrassment.

“The re-establishment of tollgates is a solution to saving the nation’s generally dilapidated road network. Besides revenue generation, the presence of toll gates which are normally managed  by armed security agents, provides a level of safety for road users,” Nazif said.

Nazif who said government alone could not fund road construction, said the poor state of roads in Nigeria had for many years constituted risks for travellers and transporters adding that cases of road accidents everyday on the roads paint “terrible and pathetic pictures of this ugly incident.”