Kwara State governor, Alh Abdulfatah Ahmed, has blamed the deplorable condition of roads across the country on ownership of some roads by the federal government.

Speaking at the maiden international conference of the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE) in Ilorin, Ahmed observed that if the federal relinquished ownership of roads, it would improve infrastructural development in the country.

While noting that roads play an important role in the economy by enhancing smooth movement of goods and people from one place to another, he lamented that the current deplorable state of Nigerian roads had made the task difficult.

Ahmed said that states where the roads are located should be made to assume ownership, after the legal and fiscal adjustments necessary for control might have been made and also recommended that the respective governments should concession key roads nationwide to the private sector on build and operate arrangement.

To address the prevalent cases of building collapse in the country, the national chairman of the institution, Engineer Robbie Owivry, urged the federal government to enact a law that would prevent unqualified engineering personnel from carrying out engineering activities.

Owivry said that the absence of a statutory law had encouraged sharp practices by unqualified personnel.

"We will personally get in touch with the federal government to enact a law that will prevent unqualified engineering personnel from carrying out engineering activities.

"If that law is put in place, and has the backing of the FG, then, it makes our job easier in regulating and monitoring anytime we go on sites and we see some people carrying out the work of engineering without being qualified. We can then take them up and prosecute them in law court.

"It's because we do not have a statutory law backing this demeanour that things have gone astray. When this law is put in place, members of the public and core professionals will know that this is law and any infringement of the law will not be treated with kid gloves. And it will even enhance us in carrying out our duties better," he emphasised.