By ABAH SUNDAY
Nigeria’s Minister of Works Sen. David Umahi Thursday inaugurated the newly appointed 10-man Governing Board of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) in his office at the headquarters of the ministry in Abuja.
Addressing the new board members, the Minister who acknowledged road as critical to all aspects of human endeavour said they were brought on board to make the desired change through selfless and patriotic commitment to duty, thereby rewriting the story of FERMA which according to him has not good enough.
He urged them to rise up to the challenges of road infrastructure maintenance facing the country and show unwavering commitment to the road maintenance programmes of the Renewed Hope agenda of Mr President, stressing that the President would not hesitate to relieve anyone of his appointment if found wanting in terms of performance.
The Minister thanked the President for appointing men of proven integrity and ability into the FERMA Board and for approving the 2023 Supplementary Budget which provides 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 drive economic growth rely greatly on road infrastructure development.
“Let me first congratulate the nominees of Mr President to the FERMA board and to 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 needed like yesterday is road. Road is everything. If we fix our roads today, we will bring down inflation in this country, because bad road is affecting every aspect of our economic activities,” he said.
He said the enhanced budgetary provision for road infrastructure by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu shows his commitment to changing the narrative of the nation’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.”
With Engr Imam Ibrahim Kashim Imam as Chairman, and Dr Chukwuemeka Chijioke Agbasi as managing director, other FERMA board members are: 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, and Yusuf Lawal Othman – Member, each of whom represents one of the six geopolitical zones of the country.
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:
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, in the ministry, Mahmuda Mamman Mamman, described the newly appointed members of FERMA board as people of proven competence and experience, and expressed the hope that they would perform in their new assignment.
In his acceptance speech on behalf of the newly constituted board, the Managing Director of FERMA, Engr Chukwuemeka Chijioke Agbasi, thanked the President for finding them worthy to be appointed as board members of FERMA and pledged to discharge their responsibilities with fear of God in line with the policy of the federal government in fulfilling the mandate of FERMA.
He expressed the commitment of FERMA towards making a visible difference on the road condition and the travel experience of commuters in the country.