Nextier Urges States to Replicate FERMA
Researchers at Nextier, a multi-competency firm, have called on state governments to replicate the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) in their domains.
They also urged state governments to diversify their road funding sources by involving the private sector through road project concession.
The Nextier researchers further implored the state governments to involve citizens in road infrastructure management in a framework that includes Information and Communication Technology (ICT) monitoring and reporting; and road management committees that will be free from undue government interference.
Their recommendations were contained in a research report titled ‘Politics of Road Infrastructure in Nigeria’ authored by Dr. Ben Nwosu, an Associate Consultant at Nextier, and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus; as well as Dr. Ndu Nwokolo, a Partner at Nextier and an Honorary Fellow at the School of Government at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.
According to the report, “Civil society organisations should be interested in road infrastructure management and support frameworks for citizen participation to have a sustainable system.
“There is a need for a proper road management system that regulates and controls heavy-duty trucks that damage roads.
“There should be strategic efforts at improving our inland waterways so that light vessels can be used for the haulage of heavy goods in the country, thereby reducing the pressure on the roads,” they suggested in the report.
The Nextier researchers pointed out that the politics of road contract award, delay in completion, road construction and maintenance funding, and partisan selection of where to start and complete or abandon projects is the bane of Nigerian road infrastructure.
According to them, “excessive dependence on one source of road funding and excessive hand of the state without including citizen road users in managing the roads need to be reconsidered. It is by addressing these factors that our Nigerian roads could be rescued.”
The report highlighted that there is hardly an economic or professional activity unrelated directly or indirectly to transportation, which is why the state of the Nigerian road infrastructure is a common reference point for citizens when they consider the performance of each sitting government.
“The poor condition of Nigerian roads is among the common causes of accidents. In the first quarter of 2022, for instance, there were 3,345 crashes on Nigerian roads, out of which 2,199 were serious and about 871 were fatal.
“In the second quarter of the same 2022, there were 3280 crashes. Serious ones were 2,105, while fatal ones were 823. Economic losses related to bad roads in Nigeria are enormous and estimated at 450 billion Naira annually,” the report said.
According to them, Nigeria should emulate the practice in other countries where better and more inclusive road infrastructure management has delivered improved services to the citizenry.
“Nigeria can draw from examples of countries like Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Armenia and others, which have evolved institutional road management systems.
“The above countries have designated groups comprising representatives from the government and the private sector in an institutional framework largely autonomous of the government in managing their road funds and infrastructure.
“Often, road users have a strong representation in the above models of road infrastructure management. Insight could be drawn from the above instances for Nigeria’s federal, state and local roads.”
