Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said that the Federal Government will toll all major roads in the country upon completion of construction and renovation. He listed some of the roads as Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano Road, and Makurdi-9th Mile, among others.
Umahi, who disclosed this, yesterday, in Abuja during an inter-ministerial media briefing as part of activities to mark Nigeria’s 64th Independence anniversary, said: “We have the Lagos-Ibadan (Expressway). We are completing it and we are tolling it.”
The former Ebonyi State governor and senator noted that the tolling of federal roads “is going to bring a lot of money to the Federal Government.” According to him, private sector members have been engaged to bring in funds, construct these roads, and work with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Works to toll the roads.
He said the government would start with the Keffi-Makurdi Road that had been completed, stating that his ministry has been engaging with the Ministry of Finance for a paperless mode of payment.
“For example, we are completing the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, working on Makurdi to 9th Mile in Enugu State, and working on Abuja to Lagos Road. We are not just going to tollthem, we are bringing confidence in the use of these roads.
If people can travel at night because we are bringing security, where the response time will be 10 minutes on the entire corridor, where you have solar light permanently there and then reduce travel time, and through the tolling, the roads are maintained, then there will be confidence because Nigerians will pay if the roads are good,” he said.
He said before now, road developments had not been handled as investments but the administration of President Bola Tinubu has been handling road developments more professionally, saying that the current administration inherited a total of 300 damaged roads and bridges, adding that more road constructions would commence from October 1, 2024 across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
