Members of the House of Representatives, it has been revealed, are considering the re-introduction of toll gates on national highways as a way of revenue generation to maintain federal roads.
This is the fallout of a visit by the House of Representatives Committee on Works, which was in the South-South geopolitical zone to assess the condition of federal roads in the zone. Precisely, the committee visited Calabar/Odukpani/Itu road and Calabar/Ikom/Ogoja road in Cross River State.
Besides the plan to re-introduce toll gates, the committee, led by Mr. Fort Dike, also advised the government to hand over federal roads to the states to reduce the level of dilapidation in the country. After inspecting the federal roads and the efforts of Cross River State Government to rehabilitate them, leader of the team, Dike, expressed worry over the magnitude of decay and said there was problem in funding of federal roads which was the reason why the House was considering the option of re-introducing toll gates as a source of revenue generation.
According to Dike, “There is need for fundamental change of federal roads in Nigeria. The Federal Government must change the pattern of the yearly allocation.”
