By Adewale Sanyaolu

If the National Roads Fund Establishment Bill 2017, proposed by the Senate gets presidential accent, the Federal Government would be generating about N73 billion yearly, Daily Sun analysis has shown.

Under the bill, the Senate is proposing a levy of N5 on every litre of petrol and diesel imported or refined in the country for the same purpose.

The Bill is equally proposing the return of tolls on federal roads and the setting aside of 0.5 per cent of transport fares paid by mass transit passengers for inter-state trips to generate funds for the rehabilitation and maintenance of roads in the country.

According to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) statistics on petrol, the country consumes about 40 million litres of petrol daily.

This shows that 40 million litres of petrol multiplied by N5 amounts to N200 million daily revenue for the country. When this figure is multiplied by 31 days, it would amount to N6.2 billion, leaving the country with the sum of N73 billion yearly.

The Senate Committee on Works had, last week Thursday, listed the objectives of the bill to include the establishment of the National Roads Fund “to be a repository of revenues from road user related charges and other sources for financing, which shall be managed and administered for routine and periodic maintenance works on roads in Nigeria.”

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It said the proposed fund would provide “predictable and sustainable funding for road maintenance and promote the sustainable management of road networks; establish the governing board, which shall be responsible for the management of the fund; and create an enabling environment for private sector participation, management and financing in the road sector.”

The lawmakers recommended that the National Roads Fund be established with high level of independence under the jurisdiction of the Federal Ministry of Finance, which would only oversee it for policy direction.

But the bill may have met stiff resistance from labour unions with the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) criticising the proposed N5 petrol levy by the Senate, describing it as a huge joke.

The South-West Chairman of NUPENG, Mr. Tokunbo Korodo, said in Lagos at the weekend that the proposal was ill-timed and also smacked of insensitivity to the current economic hardships facing Nigerians.

He wondered how the nation’s Upper Chamber could think of another fuel price increase when Nigerians were “striving to  cope with the current harsh economic realities. How can the Senate propose such a bill at this period when poor Nigerians can hardly feed themselves? The prices of foodstuff have tripled in the market, while workers’ salaries have not been increased,” Korodo said.

“Just a year ago, the pump price of petrol was increased from N87 to N145 per litre and Nigerians accepted the increment because of the sincerity of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Any attempt to adjust the price of petrol under any guise will be resisted by the organised labour.”

The NUPENG chief therefore called on well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the leadership of the Senate to step down the bill.