The Senate on Tuesday, 25th October2016 called for the re-introduction of Toll Gates on Federal highways. Moving a motion titled ‘Need for the Re-establishment of Toll Gates on our Federal Highways’, Sen. Suleiman Nazif (APC:Bauchi) noted that the purpose of toll gates is for revenue generation and effective road maintenance. The lawmaker also emphasized that the re-establishment of tollgates abolished by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004, would transform the state of dilapidated roads across the country and reduce road accidents. The former President had advocated then for the revenue of road maintenance to be generated from the increased price of petrol. Sen. Nazif was of the view that it was the maintenance of roads and not the construction of new roads that should be viewed as priority. He also outlined that toll gates could be used as a strategy to improve road infrastructure for the benefit of Nigerians.
Contributing to the motion, Sen. Bukar Abba Ibrahim (APC:Yobe) and Sen. Sabi Abdullahi (APC:Niger) mentioned that the motion was important and would aid the funding of road maintenance. Sen. Bassey Albert Akpan (PDP:Akwa-Ibom) also reminded Senators of the National Roads Fund Bill and the Federal Roads Authority Bill recently passed, whose objectives encourage private concessioning. He further blamed the failure of tollgates in the past on the lack of structures for its maintenance and the absence of private sector participation.
The Senate has directed its Committee on Works to liaise with the Infrastructural Regulatory Commission to facilitate road tolling in Nigeria. It would be recalled that a similar motion for the reintroduction of tollgates on federal roads failed to get the approval of members in the House of Representatives in September.
