Despite poor roads, Babangida, Abdulsalami did well – Senator Abudullahi

Senator Aliyu Sabi Abudullahi, the deputy chief whip, has said that despite the parlous state of roads in their home state (Niger State), former military leaders Ibrahim Babangida and Abdualsalami Abububar did well in other parts.

Abudullahi, representing Niger North, complained about the poor roods in the state during a debate on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday.

“Any time we talk about infrastructure, one of the lousy excuses we have is that we have two (former) Presidents that come from that state.

“But these are the two presidents that have done very well in other states. So, don’t we deserve to have a good thing in our state? Our roads are in shambles. They are not motorable,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, the Senate has urged the government to declare a state of emergency on the state of federal roads in Niger. In its resolution, the senate asked the federal government to provide N300 billion as emergency intervention fund for rehabilitation of the damaged roads.

 

The Senate said the pressure from haulage trucks traversing the north and the south are responsible for the damaged roads.  It said the only alternative route to the bad roads is the Bida-Minna road, currently undergoing construction.

 

“Further alarmed that the only road portion that is substantially motorable is the Mokwa-Jebba-Bida road, which is itself under intense pressure by the heavy-duty haulage activities of trucks and tankers and may not last two years under the current scenario.

 

“The Kontagora-Yauri road is also motorable but hard to reach, hence the pressure on state roads…”

Abudullahi also faulted poor budgetary allocation for carrying out repairs on the roads.

 

“But we can see that from Abuja to Makurdi, almost N56 billion was allocated for that road. Then you look at the road that we just mentioned: only N4.6 billion. Where is the equity?” he said.