Road crisis in Nigeria has intensified as the Federal Government disclosed it requires ₦880 billion annually to maintain federal roads in good condition, an amount it has consistently failed to access, leaving critical infrastructure to deteriorate nationwide.
Minister of State for Works, Mohammed Goroyo, made the revelation during a House of Representatives investigative hearing on the controversial 5% user charge meant to fund road maintenance across the country.
Despite this legally mandated charge being included in the FERMA Amendment Act since 2007, officials from the Ministry and the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) confirmed that the funds have never been accessed.
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In 2023, only ₦76.3bn was allocated, rising to ₦168.9bn in 2025 still less than 20% of the required sum. The result, Goroyo warned, is a reactive maintenance culture leading to deteriorating infrastructure, increased costs, and disruption to transport and commerce.
The FERMA boss, Chukwuemeka Abbasi, added that years of neglect and non-implementation of the charge by previous petroleum regulatory bodies had crippled efforts to establish a stable funding stream. The current regulatory authority, the Nigeria Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has yet to operationalize the deduction framework, effectively denying FERMA consistent access to its statutory revenue source.
Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, emphasized that the legislature is constitutionally empowered to investigate failures like this and hold agencies accountable. He noted that the House had earlier passed a motion to examine the unremitted charges, and the current hearing aims to uncover who is responsible for the breakdown in implementation and how much money is unaccounted for.
The Chairman of the Ad-Hoc Committee, Francis Waive, clarified that the hearing is not an attempt to amend any law or increase fuel prices. Rather, it seeks to enforce compliance with existing laws that are currently being disregarded by relevant institutions.
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He criticized the long-standing disobedience to the FERMA Act, adding that Parliament will ensure such legal loopholes are closed.
Officials stressed that consistent, sustainable road maintenance funding is not only necessary for preserving existing infrastructure but vital for economic development, trade, and national cohesion. As Nigeria continues to grapple with crumbling highways and rising repair costs, the failure to access the already-legislated 5% charge may go down as one of the most costly bureaucratic oversights in the nation’s infrastructure history.
