Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has announced that the Federal Government plans to implement tolls on all major roads across the country once construction and renovation projects are completed.
“We have the Lagos-Ibadan (Expressway), we are completing it and we are tolling it,” Umahi said on Thursday in Abuja at an Inter-Ministerial Press Briefing, part of activities to mark Nigeria’s 64th independence anniversary.
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He identified several of the roads to be tolled, including the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano Road, and Makurdi-9th Mile, among others.
The former Ebonyi State governor said the tolling of federal roads “is going to bring a lot of money to the Federal Government”.
Umahi said private sector members have been engaged “to bring in funds, construct these roads, work with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Works to toll these roads”.
The minister stated that the government would begin tolling with the completed Keffi-Makurdi Road and mentioned that his ministry has been collaborating with the Ministry of Finance to implement a paperless payment system.
He said, “For example, we are completing the Lagos-Ibadan, we are working on Makurdi to 9th Mile in Enugu State, we are working from Abuja to Lagos. These roads are going to be tolled. But we are not just tolling them, we are bringing confidence in the use of these roads.
“If people can travel at night because we are bringing security, where the response time will be 10 minutes on the entire corridor, where you have solar light permanently there and then reduce travel time, and through the tolling, the roads are maintained, then, there will be confidence because Nigerians will pay if the roads are good.”
He noted that in the past, road developments were not treated as investments. However, under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, road projects are being managed more professionally.
He also revealed that the current administration inherited 300 damaged roads and bridges, and announced that additional road constructions will begin on October 1, 2024, across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
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