The House of Representatives is asking the government to give 20% of the Ministry of Works’ 2025 budget to the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA). This request was made by Hon. Aderemi Oseni (APC), who represents Ido/Ibarapa Federal Constituency in Oyo State, during a plenary session.
Oseni expressed concern about the bad condition of most federal roads, which are causing problems for both the government and citizens. He pointed out that FERMA, the agency responsible for maintaining federal roads, has been doing its best with the small budget it receives. However, this budget is nowhere near enough to address the huge number of roads in need of repairs.
According to Oseni, FERMA needs between N300 billion and N500 billion each year to properly maintain the roads. But in recent years, its budget has only been around N25 billion to N50 billion, which is only about 10% of what’s needed. With the Ministry of Works’ 2024 budget standing at around one trillion Naira, the lawmaker is calling for 20% of that to go to FERMA in 2025 to help it carry out its duties properly.
