Date: 2015-12-15

The Speakers of both Kwara and Niger State Houses of Assembly Dr. Ali Ahmad and Chairman of the Northern Speakers' Forum, Alhaji Ahmed Marafa made the call in Jebba when they led the legislators of the two Houses of Assembly on a visit to the deplorable highway to share the pains and hardship being daily encountered by motorists plying the route.

They noted with displeasure that the highway linking the north and southern parts of the country had claimed many lives and crippled socio- economic activities of the two states due to its present deplorable condition, pointing out that no road was as bad as the highway in the country.

The Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Dr. Ali Ahmad in his remark lamented that all federal roads in kwara State are in deplorable condition, saying that the state had been cut off from other parts of the country due to the bad roads linking the state and appealed to the Federal Government to urgently fix the highway and other federal roads in the state to fast track the socio-economic emancipation of Kwara.

Also, Niger State House of Assembly Speaker, Alhaji Ahmed Marafa expressed shock over the poor state of the road, recalling that the resolutions of the State House of Assembly on December 10 2015, called on the Federal Government to take immediate action to dualise Ilorin-Jebba highway in particular and rehabilitate other federal roads in Niger State.

Earlier, the Controller of Federal Ministry of Works in Kwara State, Engineer Omotayo Awosanya while briefing the legislators on the highway said the 96 kilometres highway asphalt overlay rehabilitation project was awarded to CGC Nigeria Limited at a cost of N14.5 billion in December 2013.

Awosanya who said N1b was paid as part payment of N2b mobilisation fee disclosed that the contractor handling the project abandoned the project due to non payment of the remaining N1b mobilisation fee and additional N1.6b so far expended on the road's rehabilitation by the Federal Government.

This, he said was occasioned by zero allocation for the project in the 2015 budget, thereby making 50 kilometres of the highway, which he described as Trans-Sahara road network to collapse and impassable for the road users.

He however disclosed that the contractor handling the project despite non release of outstanding payment by the federal government had agreed to return to site with the hope that the new leadership in the country would demonstrate greater political will to include the completion of the Trans-Sahara road network in the next year's budget.

The Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly later presented the letter containing the resolutions of the House on the poor State of Ilorin-Jebba and Ajase Ipo-Offa-Erin-Ile- Osogbo highways to the Federal Controller of works in the State for onward presentation to the Minister of Works, Power and Housing Mr Babatunde Fashola.

Similarly, his counterpart from Niger State, Alhaji Ahmed Marafa equally presented their resolutions, calling on the Federal Government to urgently look into the deplorable condition of Federal roads in Niger State.