The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN on Monday explained that bad across the country can only be fixed when the 2016 Budget is passed.
Fashola, who made this known at a town hall meeting in Lagos, said the delay in signing the budget was affecting plans to repair dilapidated roads across the country.
He said, “There’s a plan to deal with the road challenge, but unfortunately as I speak, there is no budget.
“Those of us that are tuned to public service will understand that budget is the article of faith, without appropriation, you can’t spend money.”
Fashola further stated that Nigeria lacks enough electricity supply to go round its 170 million population, assuring however that efforts were being made to deliver sustainable power.
According to him, “I will summarise the power issue simply in one word; there is no enough power. Five thousand MW for 170 million people is just not enough. The solution is delivering more power on an incremental and sustained basis.
“As far as roads are concerned, especially for road workers, road transporters and the unions, it is ultimately an index of doing business. The cost of transportation affects how cheaply or expensive food reaches the table, how efficiently services are delivered.
“If you just throw back a little bit, this country earned $100 per barrel of crude oil for a decade; other countries earned that kind of money. Are we as competitive as they were, or as they have become? Clearly, we have not spent our money wisely.
“Otherwise, we shouldn’t have broken roads, otherwise, we should have more power,” the Minister stated.
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