The House of Representatives on Wednesday asked the Federal Government to concession federal roads to investors and reintroduce tolls on selected highways to ensure sustainable infrastructure development and enhance security.

The green chamber passed the motion during Wednesday’s plenary, following the adoption of a motion co-sponsored by Esosa Iyawe (Oredo federal constituency), Olusola Fatoba (Ado Ekiti/Irepodun-Ifelodun federal constituency), Abdulmaleek Danga (Adavi/Okehi federal constituency) and Uche Okonkwo (Idemili north/Idemili south federal constituency).

Moving the motion, Iyawe, the lead sponsor, said an efficient road transportation network is fundamental to national economic development, trade facilitation, agricultural productivity, industrial growth, national security and the general welfare of citizens.

The legislator said several federal roads across Nigeria have “deteriorated significantly due to prolonged neglect, inadequate maintenance, insufficient funding, and increasing pressure from heavy-duty vehicles, resulting in avoidable accidents, loss of life, vehicle damage, higher transportation costs, and delays in the movement of goods and people”.

According to him, Edo, which sits on a major transportation corridor linking several parts of southern Nigeria, suffers from the deplorable condition of several roads connecting other states.

The lawmaker said the poor condition of the roads has adversely affected commercial activities, increased the cost of transporting agricultural produce and other essential commodities, discouraged investment, and imposed significant economic hardship on residents, commuters and businesses.

He noted that the federal government’s reliance on annual budgetary allocations to rehabilitate and maintain an extensive federal road network has not consistently delivered the required level of infrastructure renewal, necessitating the exploration of sustainable alternative financing and management arrangements.

Iyawe said concessioning through transparent public-private partnership (PPP) arrangements can attract private capital, technical expertise, and efficient project management to rehabilitate, operate, and maintain federal roads over the long term, while reducing the federal government’s immediate financial burden.

“The reintroduction of properly regulated toll gates on selected rehabilitated federal highways could provide a sustainable mechanism for recovering private investment, financing routine maintenance, supporting road safety operations and generating revenue for the federal government,” he said.

The lawmaker said establishing and operating toll gates will create direct and indirect employment opportunities for host communities through toll administration, security services, traffic management, maintenance, catering, retail businesses, and other ancillary services.

“Strategically located toll plazas, when properly designed and coordinated with relevant security agencies, can serve as additional points for lawful security presence, intelligence gathering, emergency response and the monitoring of vehicular movements, without disrupting the free movement of citizens or becoming instruments of harassment and extortion,” he said.

The legislator said any tolling arrangement must be transparent, affordable, technologically efficient, and supported by enforceable service standards to ensure motorists receive measurable improvements in road quality, safety, and travel efficiency in return for toll payments.

The motion was adopted when Tajudeen Abbas Tajudee Abbas, speaker of the house, called for a voice vote.

Consequently, the house asked the ministry of works to develop and implement a comprehensive national framework for the concessioning of eligible federal roads to competent private investors under transparent PPP arrangements, with priority given to roads requiring urgent rehabilitation and those serving as major economic and commercial corridors.

The parliament also asked the works ministry to reintroduce tolls on selected federal highways after substantial rehabilitation and the establishment of clear concession agreements, with toll charges determined through transparent economic assessments, public consultation and affordability considerations.

Former president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has said that he is ready to help Nigeria in any capacity after completing his two terms at the bank.

Adesina, who spoke to journalists on Tuesday after meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the presidential villa in Abuja, however noted that he is not looking for a job.

He said he visited Tinubu to formally inform him of the completion of his 10-year tenure and brief him on the bank’s achievements, including its financing support for Nigeria.

“It’s customary and it’s required that I come back home to tell His Excellency, the President, of the completion of my term and also to give him a report of what was achieved during my term,” he said.

Adesina said during his tenure, the AfDB provided roughly $7 billion in financing to Nigeria between 2015 and 2025, compared with $11.1 billion in total financing since the bank began operations in the country in 1971.

“So within ten years we were able to do 63 percent, literally, of that,” he said.

Adesina said Tinubu was pleased with the bank’s contributions and that he used the meeting to discuss the country’s economic direction with the president.

Adesina said he commended Tinubu on the removal of the petrol subsidy and the harmonisation of foreign exchange (FX) windows, describing them as difficult but important reforms.

“These are very, very important, difficult reforms, but they are beginning to bear some fruits, quite some fruits,” he said.

Adesina said the reforms had helped improve foreign exchange availability and attract portfolio investors, while inflation is trending downwards.

“If you look at it, you have a lot more FX available today. You have a lot of portfolio investors that are coming into the country. You have inflation trending downwards,” he said.

“Prices are still a bit high, but inflation is trending downwards.”

He also pointed to changes in how international rating agencies viewed Nigeria, saying their assessments included stable and positive outlooks.

However, Adesina said the country needs to move beyond economic reforms and stabilisation towards structural transformation, growth, and prosperity.

“You have to also now move from the issue of the reforms and stabilisation straight into structural transformation and also growth and prosperity, which is what the President is focusing on,” he said.

On the capacity he could contribute to Nigeria, the former AfDB president said he was willing to help in any role Tinubu considered appropriate.

“My heart is always at home. And in any capacity that His Excellency feels I can help, I can help in anything,” he said.

He stressed that his offer was motivated by his commitment to Nigeria rather than a desire for public office.

“I have a duty, an obligation and a responsibility to do so. And I will,” Adesina said.

Adesina expressed commitment to contributing to Nigeria’s development following his decade leading the AfDB.

Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers state has said that Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is the leader of the Rainbow Coalition.

Fubara, who made the remark while addressing supporters at the unveiling of the coalition’s candidates in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, with Wike in attendance, asked members of the Rainbow Coalition to stop identifying with different political figures as their leaders, describing Wike as the “leader of the Rainbow Coalition” and his “Oga”.

Fubara said some members who supported him during the political crisis in Rivers still maintained separate leadership identities despite the new political arrangement.

He said the different groups had now come together under one umbrella and should no longer see themselves as separate political camps.

“I’m aware that there are some issues when some persons who followed me when we had the crisis, when you’re in your meeting, you say, ‘my leader, my leader’,” he said.

“We are now in one house. And because we have one house, there is no issue about who is the leader.”

The governor added that although some members might still see him as their leader, they should recognise Wike’s position in the coalition.

He urged members to resolve the issue and move forward as one political family, cautioning against statements that could suggest competing leadership structures within the alliance.

“I might be your Oga, but we have a common leader now,” he said.

“So please, going forward, this issue of ‘my leader, my leader, my leader’—I want it resolved here.”