Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing, the ministry is working hard to ensure federal highways are in good condition for commuters to enjoy better travel experience during ember months.
Fashola made the commitment at a one-day virtual workshop with federal controllers of works and engineering representatives on Thursday in Abuja.
The theme of the event: “Know Your Role and Own Your Network”.
Fashola said the aim of the workshop was for every controller to be able to know and identify the number of roads they manage.
“We expect that you will be able to deploy staff as head of that state and assign them to each road; it is our wish that they will be able to patrol the road network frequently.
“So that damage will be quickly noticed, arrested, reported and the necessary repair is implemented before it deteriorates further,’’ he said.
Fashola also tasked the controllers to become more aggressive in managing their networks with a view to mastering their jobs.
The minister, who noted that major challenge on the roads during the period, was the spiral increase in the volume of vehicular traffic, saying it was expedient to brainstorm over issues of smooth travel experience for commuters.
“We just entered the ember months and it is anticipated that by end of the year, there will be increase in vehicular, human and cargo movements across the country.
“So, the sensible thing to do is to plan the ember months for this reason, the ministry has started the planning as part of response to ensure commuters have pleasant experience during December to January.
“The minister of state will be coordinating, directly the ember months plan, starting with our plan inside and those who will be affected and we start to call all the meetings we normally call.
“FRSC, FERMA, the controllers, the Zonal Directors, the contractors, everybody has a role to play so that our commuters by the end of year hopefully will enjoy better travel time than they did last year,’’ he said.
Fashola urged controllers to work diligently in their task to assist the ministry achieve its mandate of construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of the highways.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Ernest Umakhihe, stressed the need for controllers to operate in compliance with the regulations to get desired results.
According to him, the Federal Government is making huge investments in infrastructure, thus the citizens should have pleasant experiences while plying the roads.
On his part, Mr Yemi Oguntominiyi, the Director Highways, Construction and Rehabilitation Department in the ministry, urged the controllers to be abreast of developments in their networks.
Oguntominiyi also tasked them to provide data that would assist in improving policies and practice for proper maintenance and management of road network in their states.
Edited By: Remi Koleoso/Grace Yussuf (NAN)
