National Council On Works Criminalises Illegal Alteration Of Highways

CHANNELS TV

The National Council on Works has approved the repair of all federal roads with illegal speed breaker bumps, while criminalizing the illegal digging up of the roads by youths.

The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission, Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, disclosed this at the just concluded 2016 annual retreat in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, for officers from Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau states.

Mr Oyeyemi while lamenting the dangerous effects which the harmful practice has on the durability of the federal highways, called on Governor Samuel Ortom to help curb the rising criminal act of altering the design of the roads in Benue state.

According to the council, the act has led to frequent road crashes, while the increased rate of road accidents across the country have been said to account for about six thousand deaths annually.

Drivers in their bid to maneuver the deplorable road conditions, often run into head-on collision with in coming vehicle, as a result of the bad roads.

A bus driver, Alfred Abah, accused the youths in the community of deliberate destruction of public infrastructure, as he explained that motorists have to do everything possible to avoid the potholes while plying the Makurdi-Lafia road along the Yelwata axis.

One of the youths in Yelwata, Amos Ogwu, in an interview with Channels Television, explained that they decided to dig up deep holes as well as construct speed breaks as a result of the reckless driving of some motorists which has led to several fatal accidents.

The growing trend is what the Corps Marshal campaigning against, while disclosing that such act amounts to criminal offence.

Mr Oyeyemi also added that, the National Council of Works has given approval to correct such illegal erection of bumps as well as road vandalization.

At the end of the retreat, Governor Samuel Ortom, said he had directed the Ministry Of Works to fix all cases of illegal alterations across the state.

On the other hand, the communities along Federal highways across the country have to be sensitized on the dangers of illegal alterations of the road design, in order to reduce accident rates.