Niger spends N4.7b on two federal roads – Commissioner

Niger State Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Danjuma Sallau, said on Monday that the State Government was spending about N4.7 billion on reconstruction/rehabilitation of two major federal roads in the state.
Sallau, who made the disclosure in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria in Minna, named the roads as Minna-Suleja and Tegina-Birnin Gwari roads in Rafi Local Government Area of the state.
He said the state government decided to undertake the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the roads because of their socio-economic significance to the state.
He said: “They are entirely federal government roads but as a responsible government that is concerned with the yearnings and aspirations of the governed, we can’t wait for the federal government to reconstruct the roads.
“We are spending about N3 billion on the reconstruction of Minna -Suleja road and the work has reached about 85 per cent completion.
“A total of N1.7 billion was spent on the rehabilitation of Tegina-Birnin Gwari federal road; the project has been completed.”
The commissioner said that the roads had been in deplorable condition arising from the activities of heavy duty trucks that plied them.
He said: “Our major challenge is the excesses of the heavy duty vehicles that ply from Lagos to different parts of the country as the state remains the gateway to these places.
” We are spending billions of naira yearly to repair and maintain federal and state roads as a result of heavy duty trucks loaded above their approved capacity.”
Sallau called on road users especially, heavy duty truck drivers not to overload their trucks to avoid damaging the roads.