The House of Representatives on Wednesday 28th, September, 2016 has rejected a motion seeking to reintroduce tollgates on Federal Roads. Moving a motion titled ‘‘Call for Re-introduction of Tollgates on Federal Roads to Enhance Road Maintenance and Construction’’, Hon. Francis Charles Uduyok (PDP:Akwa-Ibom) stated that the dilapidated state of Nigerian roads called for a re-introduction of tollgates to enable the Federal Government meet the cost of maintaining and constructing of inter-state roads. Hon. Udoyok also stated that fluctuation in oil prices had incapacitated the Federal Government from carrying out road maintenance and construction before warning that the failure to re-introduce the tollgate system would lead to more accidents as many of the roads would be in appalling conditions.
However, several members opposed the motion on the grounds that the tollgates would be an additional financial burden to many citizens; many of whom were already embattled with the harsh realities of Nigeria’s current economic recession. They also noted that there was no evidence that roads were in better conditions when tolls were being collected. In particular Hon. Ayo Omidiran (APC:Osun) mentioned that funds were appropriated annually for road maintenance and construction and raised security issues of setting up tollgates in addition to the impropriety of imposing such tax on citizens. Hon. Kingsley Chinda (PDP:Rivers) was also of the view that the motion was inconsistent with the Taxes and Levies Act 2004 which prevents persons from mounting a road block on any part of the Federation for the purpose of collecting tax or levy. Following this, the motion was rejected as it failed to pass the required voice vote.
