The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said that Federal Government would soon introduce the first set of weigh bridges across the country.

This, the minister said, would help to protect Nigerian roads by guarding against excess cargo weights, and also ensure that sanity was restored to road transportation.

Fashola disclosed this in Abuja when he received the Board members of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency,(FERMA) led by its Chairman, Mr Babatunde Lemo, in his office.

While he called on road users to observe all necessary rules, he also urged members of FERMA Board to pay more attention to the protection of roads while carrying out the maintenance.

He also warned road users against willful damage of roads through overloading. He also said that once the weigh bridges were in place, excess loads would be offloaded and owners surcharged.

According to him, the country was at the peak of the rainy season where the roads were prone to damages. The Minister explained that the consequences of bad weather were harmful to every country’s infrastructure architecture leaving behind devastating effects. He assured Nigerians that the government was aware of these challenges and responding to them, even though the rains have slowed down activities in the construction sector generally.

Fashola said, “Maintenance of highways is very crucial to government as this would facilitate economic growth and job creation. FERMA is an important component of the government strategy for maintaining the road network”. (New Telegraph)