The tax, in the name of toll fees, imposed by the government on renovated and upgraded federal roads, is too high for the population, who are already experiencing tax fatigue. At the officially launched toll operations on the Abuja–Akwanga–Lafia–Makurdi Road corridor recently, the Minister of Works, David Umahi, through his Minister of State, Bello Goronyo, announced that for every trip, saloon cars will be charged N500, Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) will pay N800, mini-buses will pay N1,000, while articulated vehicles will pay N1,600. The rates are too high for private vehicle owners and commercial vehicles, who will ultimately use the road tax as an excuse to increase transport fares on our federal roads.

The high toll fee contradicts President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s promise at his inauguration in 2023 when he announced the removal of the fuel subsidy. According to the president, “The subsidy can no longer justify its ever-increasing costs in the wake of drying resources. We shall instead re-channel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, healthcare and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions.” Road construction and maintenance are a core feature in public infrastructure in which the savings from the subsidy are supposed to be invested.

The minister claimed that the tolls on the Abuja-Makurdi Road were erected to repay a Chinese Exim Bank loan of $460.8 million, covering 85 per cent of the project’s $542 million total cost. He explained that in 2023, the (Buhari) administration executed a 25-year “Operate and Maintain” concession agreement with Messrs China Harbour Operations and Maintenance Company Limited in partnership with Messrs Catamaran Nigeria Limited.

Umahi explained further that “We officially launch toll operations on our federal roads, beginning with the 227.2km Abuja–Keffi–Akwanga–Lafia–Makurdi Road corridor. [The road] is crucial for Nigeria’s economic, social and strategic development, serving as an essential artery for trade, mobility and national security while contributing to infrastructure growth, urbanisation, and national cohesion… The collection of tolls will generate much-needed revenue for road maintenance and expansion.”

Over the years, whenever the government increased fuel prices, one of the excuses given was that a certain percentage would be deployed for the maintenance of our federal roads. At the increase of petroleum prices in 1993-1994 to N11 per liter, the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, set a percentage of the funds aside for multiple projects, including road construction under the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) regime. In January 2004, former President Olusegun Obasanjo demolished all the 31 toll plazas on the country’s federal roads and increased the pump price of petrol by an additional N1.40. His argument was very smooth. The road tax being collected on the government’s behalf by some private companies was being stolen.

It is unfortunate that this government considers a new tax burden on the people as the remedy for social challenges. In order to fight corruption in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry, the government had to remove the subsidy that benefited ordinary Nigerians instead of investigating and bringing to book the internal and external collaborators in the corrupt practice. An investigation into the poor state of our roads will prove the hypothesis that Nigeria’s roads are bad because of the connivance between government officials and contractors. Over the years, civil servants, public servants and their private sector collaborators diverted funds meant for road construction and maintenance. The government has failed to use its investigative institutions to recover the funds and punish those who frustrated investments in the sector; our political leaders would rather impose more tax on the ordinary Nigerian in order to repair the roads.

The idea of tolling our roads is not a creative approach to ensuring motorists enjoy good roads. In the past, the government had given that responsibility to the staff of the Ministry of Works. Much of the money collected from motorists was diverted to private pockets. At another point, private sector experts were used to collect the tax; the remittances into government coffers were ridiculous. There is no guarantee that even the Chinese who will collect tolls and manage the roads will give a transparent account of the receipts.

We call on the government to moderate its zeal for tax collection from the people and revise the tax to amounts that motorists can afford to pay without groaning or grumbling. The maintenance of the roads must not depend on the amount collected at the toll gates; it is the social responsibility of the government to maintain public infrastructure from the tax being paid by Nigerians in diverse ways. We call on the government to reduce the toll fee by, at least, 50 per cent. Nigerians already pay road tax in other ways, like the driver’s licence that every driver must pay; vehicle licence and roadworthiness fees that Nigerians pay on all vehicles every year; and of course, the undisclosed tax paid on each litre of petrol they purchase. If the tax on the tolled roads is too high, the cost will be passed down to ordinary Nigerians through the charges on passengers and on goods conveyed by commercial motorists. (Daily Trust Editorial)