‘FERMA’s response creates cost effectiveness’
What is the mandate of FERMA?FERMA was established in 2002 for the sole purpose of giving our roads effective maintenance and became very operational in 2003. From experience in Nigeria we build roads but do not provide maintenance strategy to sustain the roads to live to their designed life span. So FERMA was to bridge […]
What is the mandate of FERMA?
FERMA was established in 2002 for the sole purpose of giving our roads effective maintenance and became very operational in 2003. From experience in Nigeria we build roads but do not provide maintenance strategy to sustain the roads to live to their designed life span. So FERMA was to bridge this gap so that when you construct a road you have a maintenance strategy to sustain the road because as you use it on daily basis, they wear and tear and age, so the agency commenced that operation but because it inherited a backlog of unmaintained roads, it was found out that much of the work done then were reacting, responding to road failures and struggling to recover from roads that you described as death traps.
Over the years, a medium term strategy has been in place. So when we came on board in 2011, we commenced a pro-active intervention model in dealing with road failures not only correctively but preventively.
We don’t allow roads to fail completely before we intervene, as we intervene on failed roads we establish surveillance, inspection of roads that are even in fair condition so that signs of failure are addressed early enough and that is the preventive measure.
We also developed the attitude of having work materials handy all year round. We produce cold asphalt that we distribute in all the zones of Nigeria. This is unlike the short mix that you can’t use when it begins to lose temperature.
We commenced the reorientation of our workforce. We have 38 field offices and 12 zonal offices so we talk to our staff. Recently, we were in Kaduna, Plateau, Benue, Edo, Imo and Lagos and these helped to change the mind set of our engineers that it is a time to adjust and deliver on assignments.
And we developed four major emergency lines that have helped a lot in beefing up our response mechanism, workforce reorientation and materials production also assisted.
We also obtained equipment like 38 road patchers which were distributed across our zonal and filed offices. Our engineers today can produce asphalt and intervene. Road maintenance starts as soon as road construction is completed, you don’t do a road and walk away.
We also partner with SURE-P in training young people. About 7,000 do basic things routinely like vegetation control, de-siltation of carriageways, blocked drainages. Such rapid response has created cost-effectiveness.
Can you specifically mention areas of intervention?
In the past, we used to have lots of accidents along Kaduna-Abuja expressway because vehicles veer off the road as a result of vandalism of handrails but today FERMA has fixed all the vandalized handrails. We have also kept the median free of hoodlums. Similar thing was happening on Third Mainland bridge in Lagos where street lights have been restored.
That was the case in Onitsha near the bridge where we used to have undulations. Today, it has been handled by FERMA. From Benin to Warri too, and between Ogbulafor and 9th Mile, P/Harcourt to East-West roads, FERMA has sustained maintenance.
In Kaduna where we had a major washout along the Western Bypass, recently we visited the site and now the washout has been reinstated.
What are the major challenges facing road maintenance in Nigeria today?
As is the case with many countries in the world, the challenge for effective and sustainable road maintenance is always funding. You never have enough so whatever we have is distributed all across the country on priority basis and challenges are reduced because of the response mechanism we have.
What about the dilapidated Apapa-Oshodi road that causes a lot of traffic bottlenecks and the Abuja-Lokoja dualisation that hasn’t been completed? What is the agency doing?
The Yuletide attracts a lot of travelling and from repeated experience there are a lot of flash points so we developed the FERMA Action Against Road Abuses and Surveillanc. We collaborate with the FRSC, Nigerian Police, NSCDC and local authorities. Every December, we mobilize them to such flashpoints.
Secondly, we monitor the roads such that broken down trucks are promptly removed and it is mandatory that all our men don’t go on vacation during the Yuletide till March when the rainy season commences.
With respect to Oshodi-Apapa road, our parent ministry, the Federal Ministry of Works is in charge and I can assure you they are working tirelessly to ensure it becomes a thing of the past.
What informs the reluctance of tanker drivers to utilize the numerous trailer parks provided by FERMA?
We have worked hard to make these trailer parks functional despite the initial challenges. We are also working closely with tanker drivers and associations. There was a time they moved out because of what they termed inadequate security and that is being worked out. The moment the one in Mararrabar Jos settles down we use that as a model for others like in Ogbulafor, Akinyile. Soon, trailer drivers will be able to use them.
Who controls placement of adverts on federal roads nationwide?
Placement of adverts is supposed to be related to use of the Right of Way and the parent ministry is coordinating all of that because it is a huge source of revenue.
What are the alternative sources of funding being explored by FERMA?
In all advanced economies, road maintenance is a serious business and attracts sustainable source of funding. In some countries, it is toll plazas while in others it is a PPP arrangement. In Nigeria, we combine the two. For example, we can soon access the international vehicle transit charge which charges vehicles that come into the country. We are also working out modalities for the five percent user charge that has been approved for road maintenance. There are just a couple of bottlenecks here and there but government has given approval and it is already explicitly indicated in the amendment FERMA Act.
In terms of quality control does FERMA supervise work done for the agency?
It is not a very common experience. Work fails but it does once in a while, so if you do a job and it fails…but with respect to work quality delivery, we have beefed up our monitoring and surveillance. If we find out that any work done either on contract or direct labour, you repeat it at your cost because we have assessed that as having been done. If a failure occurs at the same spot there is a minimum period we allow for job done to determine the test of time. This is to ensure quality delivery. We have a retention period and a fund such that if you don’t go back do it we utilize such fund at no cost.