•This is inevitable if we are to have well maintained roads

The Senate in a resolution indicates its support for return of tolls collection on federal highways. This resolution, in combination with an earlier call by the Federal Minister of Works for re-introducing tolls to generate funds for road maintenance, is a good beginning of a process that requires rigorous and creative thinking on the part of policy makers. It is crucial to craft a new policy that will avoid all the pitfalls of the first experiment in tolls collection in the country.

It is imperative that we learn from the failure of our experiences of toll collection and management. From 1978, the Federal Ministry of Works coordinated toll management for years, during which corruption was rife: selling toll collector’s positions to highest bidders in cash or in kind and consequently condoning venal practices in management of collected revenue. The Federal Government later contracted tolls collection to members of the political class or their spouses. Again, this was grossly abused, as many of such contractors did not make agreed returns to the government on time and in good faith.

President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004 abruptly ordered demolition of all toll gates. His excuse was that the new tax on domestic consumption of oil would provide funds for maintaining federal roads. Citizens remained indifferent about Obasanjo’s promise, having experienced decades of empty promises about maintenance of federal roads.

It is very remarkable that the Senate is actively joining the debate on the need to have motorable roads for movement of goods and services in the country and calls from various sectors of the economy for new revenue streams in the wake of decline in oil price. As desirable as good roads are to the economy and wellbeing of road users, proper planning is needed before citizens are called upon to pay tolls.

First, our federal roads are in deplorable state – marked more by potholes and craters than by paved surfaces. No policy should be made to charge citizens tolls on most of the roads currently referred to as federal highways. Tolling bad roads is not the way to go. Therefore, the Federal Government must first repair all federal highways in dilapidated state before commencing collection of tolls. In addition, determination of how much to charge road users should not be driven solely by the desire to generate funds to meet shortfalls in revenue from oil. There is no better time to show sensitivity to the difficulties facing the average road user. Ensuring equity in determination of toll charges is the logical way to go, particularly in the context of the ongoing recession.

Second, lessons learnt from failure in collecting and managing tolls for over three decades ought to be reflected in design of new policies. Fortunately, there are more corruption-resistant tolls collection systems across the globe in 2016 than in 1978 or 2004 when toll gates were demolished by the Federal Government. There are various technologies that count the number of vehicles that go through toll gates, in contrast to total reliance on manual systems prone to manipulation in the past. We enjoin the government to invest in appropriate technology that can guarantee efficiency and transparency in collecting tolls and accounting for what is collected from road users.

Above all, the government should hold agencies charged to use funds from tolls to maintain highways to strict ethical standards in the use of public funds. New policies on tolls should benefit from the current government’s plan to re-engineer public institutions to deliver verifiable efficiency and transparency.

Source: nation.

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