Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), had after last Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, announced that the council had approved the ministry’s request to reintroduce toll gates on selected dual carriageways across the country.
According to Fashola, cars would pay N200, SUVs and Jeeps, N300, private buses, N300, commercial buses, N150, and luxury buses and trucks, N500.
The latest plan is coming 18 years after the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo dismantled all toll plazas on federal roads across the country in 2003.
But while some concerned citizens, including transporters and passengers, have said the move might be resisted, others are saying they would not mind if all the major roads across the country were fixed to ease movement.
A staff of Faith Motors in Onitsha, Anambra State, Amaechi Okah, said the development is another ploy to further increase the burden of the already-suffering masses.
Okah said, “The idea of bringing back tollgates on our roads may not be possible because it will be seen a poly by the Federal Government to extort the masses, which to me is a way to create an additional burden on the people of the country.”
A road user, Eze Igbo, advised the Federal government to look inwards and take particular note of the ravaging hardship most Nigerians are presently facing, before introducing the toll plazas on highways.
“The proposal that luxurious buses and articulated vehicles should pay N500, rather than N100 which is minimal, is indeed outrageous; it shows we still have a long way to go in this country.
“They should also try to fix all the roads to save the people and transporters from hardships of damages and other problems drivers face on the highways,” he said.
Fix bad roads first -Motorists
A transporter, Chisom Akuma, said over the years, the government had failed to construct durable roads, adding that the planned reintroduction of tolls is not a welcome development at this time.
“The government has failed to the extent that they cannot construct durable roads. We are asking the government to salvage the poor masses from the excruciating pains they are going through due to hardship.
“There is no one who does not like good things. Good road networks will facilitate the smooth running of businesses, and it will enhance the movement of goods and services.”
Another commuter, Sunday Onyirimba, said such an idea should not be muted when the vast majority of roads in the country are in a bad state.
“The road from Onitsha to Nsukka and other roads in Enugu State is bad. Commuters are held in gridlock due to bad portions of the road, and the passengers are in most cases stranded. There is nothing as bad as such disappointments.
“Most times, we have sudden damage of vehicles due to the deplorable state of the roads and the damages incurred are extra financial burdens.
‘’However, it will not be a bad idea if the Federal Government reintroduces toll plazas and makes good use of the revenue generated to fix the roads.
‘It’s a catalyst for job creation
A financial economist and President, Association of Capital Market Academics of Nigeria (ACMAN), Prof. Uche Uwaleke, welcomed the Federal Government’s plan to toll dual carriage highways in the country, provided it guarantees the maintenance of the affected roads nationwide.
Uwaleke, in an exclusive interview with ThisNigeria on Saturday, said, “Let me begin by saying that the idea of tolling on dual-carriage busy federal highways is a good one if there is a guarantee that the affected roads would be well maintained.
“It is cheering to note the assurances of the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, that the implementation will not commence until the roads are motorable,” he added, assuring that the development would not impose any significant multiplier effect on the economy.
He explained that only 14 percent of the total road networks nationwide were billed for tolling, adding that the new toll rates arrived from contributions from stakeholders in the transport sector, especially the operators.
“I do not think the measure will have any significant negative multiplier effect on the economy. This is because only about 14 percent of the network of federal roads will be eligible for tolling, according to Fashola, the Minister.
‘’Also, given that the toll rates were arrived at following recommendations by transport operators, I do not expect that the same operators will take undue advantage of the situation to hike transport fares.”
The financial economist further expressed optimism in the new policy, as it addresses some categories and modes of transportation involving the poor and vulnerable in the society.
Those exempted, according to him, include motorcycles, tricycles, and the popular ‘Keke NAPEP’.
He said he is more confident this time on the success of tolling because, according to him, it will be better implemented with the deployment of an electronic toll collection system managed by the private sector.
On the balance, Uwaleke said the benefits would far outweigh the costs, adding that regular maintenance of bad roads from toll collection, as done in other countries, will help bring down transport fares and urban inflation rates.
He also listed job opportunities for unemployed youths in the country as another benefit that the new policy would bring.
We’ll comment when implementation starts -RTEAN chair
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in Kwara State, AbduRahman Onikijipa, has said that transporters in his state would await the implementation of the new fee regime before making their position known.
According to Onikijipa, “It is still a proposal by the Federal Government, and the government has said that implementation would commence only when the affected roads had been made motorable.
‘’We want to wait till that time before we make our positions known.”
Also, the National President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Tajudeen Baruwa, said his association is not against the reintroduction of toll plazas.
“We are not opposing the reintroduction of toll gates because we are the stakeholders and we are also interested in having control of one of the roads,” he said.
Speaking through his Special Adviser, Suleiman Dansaki, the NURTW president blamed the Federal Government for inconsistencies in policy implementation.
He said, “In 1991, we were in the negotiating team with the Federal Government which created no fewer than 22 toll gates across the country, and the advice that was given has been circumvented due to the Nigerian factor.
“From inception, we said roads that should be used as toll collection centers must have the presence of stakeholders to monitor whatever the government was going to do.”
Similarly, the Executive Secretary of the National Association of Transport Owners (NARTO), Anoga Ologo, said tolling is not a bad idea but is quick to add that if only the purpose for which the money was collected is achieved.
“Globally, the responsibility of road maintenance is left for the government alone. So, if the tolls will be used to maintain the roads, I do not see it as a bad idea,” he said.
A professor in the Department of Economics, University of Abuja, Oyinlola Olaniyi, said reintroducing the toll gates could serve better economic purposes than external borrowing.
“Well, let me tell you that this is one of the good moves that this administration has taken so far in raising funds to run projects, and if all things work, we might drop the idea of going for foreign loans to fix our roads.
‘’The issue of borrowing has become a distraction of minds. It has posed economic distractions. It has disengaged economic predictions in subsequent years to come.
‘’I think that in as much as the economic team would be able to take the right steps, the country may be rescued from its economic woes.”
In the same vein, a don in the University of Abuja, Yelwa Mohammed, said the running of toll plazas failed in the first instance because the monies collected from road users were being stolen.
‘For varsity students, accommodation still headache’
‘’Instead of ensuring that fund was available for the maintenance of the roads across the country, the money was going into private pockets. I hope Fashola and all the people involved should not be thinking of running the project under the government control or else we should as well experience the same thing,” he added
