Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi has charged the newly inaugurated members of the Governing Board of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to brace up for the challenges of road infrastructure maintenance facing the country.
Special Assistant to the Minister of Works, Barr. Orji Uchenna disclosed this in a statement issued on Thursday, December 21, 2023.
According to him, the Minister gave the charge while inaugurating the FERMA Governing Board at the Conference Room, Federal Ministry of Works, Headquarters, Abuja on 21st December 2023.
The Hon Minister thanked the President of Nigeria for appointing men of proven integrity and ability into the FERMA Board and for approving the 2023 Supplementary Budget which provided landmark interventions on the Federal roads.
He said road infrastructure was critical to the socio-economic development of our nation noting that the critical sectors that drove economic growth relied greatly on road infrastructure development:
“Let me first congratulate the nominees of Mr. President to the FERMA board and express my gratitude deeply to Mr. President who has found you worthy to do this job. We have a very critical situation with our roads all over the country and for me, the number one thing Nigerians need like yesterday is the road. Road is everything. If we fix our roads today, we will bring down inflation in this country, because bad roads are affecting every aspect of our economic activities”, Umahi said.
He maintained that the enhanced budgetary provision for road infrastructure under the President showed his commitment to changing the narrative of Nigeria’s road infrastructure.
“This underscores the fact that Mr. President understands the plight of our people as far as our road infrastructure is concerned, he’s doing everything within the budget and outside the budget to fix our roads. And I want to assure Nigerians on behalf of Mr. President that our hopes are renewed in tackling our road infrastructure decays”, he said.
It would be recalled that by section 3 of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, (FERMA) Amendment Act 2007, the President had on 13th October, 2023 approved the appointment of the following members of the Governing Board of FERMA and they had been confirmed by the Senate:
Engr. Dr. Chukwuemeka Chijioke Agbasi – Managing Director
Engr. lbi Terna Manasseh – Member
Dr. Kenneth Ugbala – Member
Sen. Timothy Aduda – Member
Babatunde Daramola – Member
Hon. Preye Oseke Member
Aminu Adamu Papa – Member
Engr. Abubakar Bappa – Member
ACM Shehu Mohammed – Member
Yusuf Lawal Othman – Member
Earlier the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works, Mahmuda Mamman Mamman described the newly appointed members of the FERMA board as people of proven competence and experience and expressed hope that they would perform well in their new assignment.
In his acceptance speech on behalf of the newly constituted board, the Managing Director of FERMA, Engr. Chukwuemeka Agbasi thanked the President for finding them worthy to be appointed as board members of FERMA and pledged to discharge their responsibilities with the fear of God and align with the policy of the Federal Minister of Works and also to the mandate of FERMA.
He expressed the commitment of FERMA towards making a visible difference on the road conditions and the travel experience of commuters in the country.
