The Senate has urged the federal government to allocate part of the service wide vote allocation of N500 billion to the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) for urgent rehabilitation of roads destroyed by flood.

This followed the adoption of a motion by Bassey Gershom (PDP-Cross River) at the plenary on Wednesday.

Presenting the motion, Mr Gershom said the 2022 flood was high given the history of flooding in Nigeria.

According to him, the rise in water level was more than the 2012 and 2020 flood incidences in the country.

He said the flood further deepened the deplorable state of Nigeria’s federal roads.

Mr Gershom said the call for the fund became necessary given the inaccessible nature of some major inter-state roads, as the heavy floods have washed off the roads and some bridges.

He said this had created economic and security challenges for Nigerians.

Mr Gershom said the movement of commuters and other Nigerians occasioned by yuletide season would be impacted adversely given the deplorable roads caused by the flood.

The Senate, also in its resolution, called for the expansion of the NNPC Ltd Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme to cover the maintenance of failed sections of federal roads.

(NAN)