The Federal Roads Main tenance Agency (FERMA), Nigeria’s first institutional mechanism for monitoring and maintaining all federal roads in the country has been in operation for at least two decades since it was set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. Its establishment was no doubt as expedient then as it is to day as an intervention to perhaps the most common challenge to the nation’s development framework. 

Although the number of Nigerian roads that has ever had any type of construction is quite scanty, poor maintenance is probably a bigger problem because each time a road has a hitch, it increases the number of bad roads along with their adverse effects on the people and the economy. 

Between 2003 and 2015, FERMA functioned in a manner that its name became known across the nation. At the approach of any major festivity, the government would issue a directive to FERMA to ease all major roads for travellers going to unite with their families in their country homes. As the popularity of the organization grew, young unemployed Nigerians evolved their own branch of FERMA patching potholes and helping to make passage easy. They were quickly classified as local ‘ferma’ and are still operating till today as some of them do get some gratification from road users. But the real FERMA itself is no longer able to function as it used to be or even as visibly as its unofficial local affiliates. Why?

It is honestly simplistic to imagine that the decline in the activities of FERMA is attributable to the posture of its knowledgeable technical operatives. What Nigerians know about road works is about one Minister of Works always inspecting works and briefing the media on government’s preparedness to provide good roads. In reality however, what Nigerians desire is good roads put together by a team of diligent workers and not necessarily a strong works leader even though it is difficult not to acknowledge the strength of character of Dave Umahi, the current Minister of Works. Indeed, he is not just a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers; his carriage easily portrays engineering expertise. However, what Nigeria needs today is not strong men, but strong institutions that would survive over time.

Nigeria needs a Ministry of Works, whose Minister is at the head of policy making along with a strong management team superintending over a viable work force. With or without the Minister or any other particular official, the institution ought to function effectively from generation to generation. Nigeria cannot get close to any developed nation if it continues with its strong-man posture. Whether it is Umahi in Works, Keyamo in Aviation, Tunji Ojo in Interior, Alausa in Education, Pate in health, Idris in Information etc, a system works best with units whose mandates are related to the professed expertiseof its work force in which functions are not personalized and in which there is established uniformity in operating procedures routed in a unity of direction that is properly oiled by institutional memory.

Today, our people have a perception that our road contractsare usually never well-thought out. Just a job for some expatriates with no details such as maintenance. Quite often, nothing is said about culverts, sidewalks, drainages etc. If contracts pass through the appropriate processes, such omissions can be minimized. Besides, announcing huge contracts for road construction every week does not produce good roads; yet, we continue to do that without end while expecting different results. Many years back, Senator Seye Ogunlewe, who had served as Minister of Works was forced to reveal why our road projects don’t end. According to Ogunlewe who should know, road contracts are politicised as we dissipate scare resources while purporting to approve many new roads that don’t get built.

Each time a contractor is mobilized to return to phase 2 of a road project, the original phase 1 supposedly completed earlier would have gone into disuse. Here, it is wasteful to enumerate factors responsible for why our roads go bad so quickly. The obvious reason of concern today is that Nigeria lacks maintenance culture. This is not only about roads but about all facets of life in the country. For example, Nigeria has always been a one-stadium nation because as soon as a new one is built, the existing ones are abandoned.Many years ago, we all knew of the famous Liberty Stadium, Ibadan. It coexisted with a few others in the days of strong regionsbut they all gave way to the magnificent National Stadium Surulere, Lagos built in 1972.

At the time, it was a national monument with an Olympic-size swimming arena and a multipurpose arena used for football, rugby, athletics, boxing etc.It was the nation’s main sporting facility used for the 1973 African Games (AAG), the 1980 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) as well as one of the venues of the 1999 FIFA U-20 World Cup and later the 2000 AFCON, co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria. The Abuja National Stadium now renamed MKO Abiola Stadium which was built in 2003 is likely to face the same fate due to lack of maintenance of facilities in the location.For the same reason, no one talks anymore about the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu.

Bearing in mind that Nigeria no longer has resources to erect huge structures, one would have expected those in power to have since developed the idea of never allowing what exists to die. But instead, we have continued to follow the old idiom of‘penny wise, pound foolish’ – an approach which explains why Nigeria’s huge structures; be they buildings or roads are destroyed because of failure to spend a small amount to maintain them.If those who set up FERMA had this in mind, it would appear that we are sliding backwards because not much has been done to ensure that such a maintenance tool is empowered to rescue us from bad roads that can be maintained rather than waiting to raise enough funds to rebuild and upgrade. 

In July 2024, FERMA’s Managing Director Engr. Chukwuemeka Agbasi told the media that the Agency was set to commence ‘operation free our roads’ initiative nationwide. Those of us who had followed the performance of the Agency in the past looked forward to interventionist projects such as patching of potholes, pavement strengthening, repairs of failed sections, bridge/culverts construction and general maintenance.Their effort didn’t yield much. On closer inquiries, we now know that the invaluable work of the Agency is yet to be prioritized. Only last week, federal legislators at an investigative hearing were told that government needs approximately N880 billion each year to maintain the federal road network nationwide. 

The Minister of State for Works, Mohammed Goroyo who disclosed the figure at the hearing highlighted the persistent shortfall in FERMA’s budgetary allocations forcing the agency to adopt reactive rather than preventive maintenance strategies.Goroyo emphasized that with only N168.9bn budgeted for 2025 there would be lack of adequate funding which would in turn result in deteriorating road conditions, increased repair costs, and disruptions to commuters and businesses. The impact of poor roads on an overstretched economy such as we have now cannot be overstressed. It is therefore time to call on well-meaning patriots to appeal to our leaders to recognize that projects such as ‘free our roads’ are more useful to our people than some of the contrived items in our budgets.

Budget padding everywhere is condemnable but its Nigerian focus is grossly irritating. Why are the extra provisions not deployed to matters of general public interest like roads maintenance? To make matters worse, legislators who should have insisted on ensuring that law is enforced are now the ones shedding crocodile tears over the non-implementation of votes for roads maintenance.Last week, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, openly decried the non-implementation and non-remittance of five per cent of the petrol pump price to the FERMA.Abbas who stated the parliament’s position noted that certain relevant authorities were still flouting the law, despite the efforts of the lawmakers.

It will be recalled that Section 14(1)(h) of the FERMA Amendment Act 2007,provides for five per cent of the pump price of petrol and diesel to be allocated to FERMA and the state maintenance agencies.Who are the relevant defaulting authorities that the Speaker is referring to? One is tempted to imagine that the failure to name names suggests that those involved are untouchables, otherwiseby now there would have been noisy threats of summons and warrants of arrests! We can only appeal here to all that empowering FERMA would benefit us all.