The Senate on Thursday, 01 June 2017 suspended passage of the Federal Roads Authority Bill which seeks to repeal the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) Act 2007 and establish the Federal Roads Authority (FRA) 2017.
Presenting the report, Chairman Committee on Works, Sen. Kabiru Gaya (APC: Kano) highlighted the objectives of the Bill to include:
- Establishing the FRA with the intent of performing the mandate stipulated in the provisions of the Bill;
- Managing the Federal Road Network with a view of meeting the socio-economic development demands of the country;
- Promoting sustainable development and operations of the road sector; and
- Facilitating the development of competitive markets, promoting an enabling environment for private sector financing, maintenance, management and improvement of roads in Nigeria.
Sen. Gaya informed the Senate that the Committee conducted several meetings aimed at reviewing the Bill extensively, culminating to the set up of a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) with the mandate to:
- Review all submissions made to the Committee at the public hearing;
- Research and analyze global best industry wide practices and its adaptation to the Nigerian environment; and
- Consider the provisions of the Bill and make appropriate recommendations on retaining, amending and deleting clauses where necessary to ensure successful passage and implementation.
In addition, he mentioned that the Committee had considered the presentations and submissions made at the Public Hearing by relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the Private Sector, he highlighted the key findings by the Committee, which he asked the Senate to approve. They include the following:
- The proposed institutional framework of FRA clearly establishes the role and responsibility of the Minister; creates a highway authority with the mandate of constructing, rehabilitating and maintenance of road network; empowers the private sector as the provider of civil works and asset management services; creates a road fund as an off budget mechanism to collate and allocate user derived levies and charges that supplements the Federal Governments funding obligations.
- The role of the Federal Ministry of Works shall be to formulate, determine and monitor the general policy for the road sector in Nigeria for the purpose of ensuring its usage of the as a platform for the economic and social development of Nigeria.
- The bulk of funding for the FRA shall be gotten from annual appropriations including donors, financial institutions, the proposed National Roads Fund and internally generated revenue.
- The key functions of the FRA shall be road asset ownership and management; road construction, rehabilitation and maintenance and road network planning.
Deliberations on the report was adjourned due to time consideration. However, prior to this, the Senate had retained Clauses 1, 2, 5, 7 8 and 10 and amended Clauses 3-6, and 9-11(1).
