The Federal Government is to reintroduce toll collection on highways in 2012, Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolomemen, said on Thursday in Abuja.
He told the Senate Committee on Works that the programme would generate revenues to enable government to maintain federal roads nationwide.
The Minister said the modalities for implementation and the exact date of commencement would be included in the 2012 budget.
“The future of the road sector cannot be shouldered by the Federal Government alone. Beyond the reintroduction of tolls, we need a major reform in the sector.’’
According to him, there is an urgent need to harmonise all fees that are collected on the highways, to channel the fees into road construction, rehabilitation and maintenance.
“We need an enabling framework for the collation of all fines collected on the roads.
“We are going to raise a bill to introduce a policy that would gradually lead to the rehabilitation of our roads because it is one of the ways we can guarantee sustainable development of our road network. ’’
The Minister also told the Committee that the Ministry had selected a number of roads that needed immediate attention.
“They are Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Shagamu-Ore, Ontisha-Enugu, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano-Maiduguri, Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja and Sokoto Expressways. ”
Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Ayogu Eze (PDP-Enugu), said the Senate might be compelled to declare a state of emergency on Nigerian roads if proactive measures were not taken to repair them.