Govt clears air on closure of federal roads in Niger

Forum 3 years ago

Govt clears air on closure of federal roads in Niger

The Niger State government has denied allegations of closing down the existing Federal roads in the state to articulated vehicles.

Alhaji Balarabe Ibrahim, Chairman, Infrastructure and Project Monitoring Committee and Chief of Staff to Gov. Abubakar Bello, said this during a news conference in Minna on Thursday.

He said the news reports that the state government had closed down Federal roads was not true, adding that the state does not have the power to restrict the movement of vehicles on federal roads.

Ibrahim added that the state government only restricted movement of articulated vehicles on state owned-roads such as Minna-Bida-Zungeru-Wushishi-Lapai-Muye-Lapai-Paiko-Chanchaga bridge-Maikunkele roads.

“There is no going back on our decision to ban articulated trucks from plying the state-owned roads.

“We still stand on our position and we won’t relent on that. Our roads still remain closed to articulated trucks,” he said.

He noted that adequate sensitisation and engagement with relevant stakeholders were carried out before the roads were barricaded, adding that motorists were given two-week notice, NAN reports.

He noted that articulated vehicles were free to ply the Bida-Lapai-Lambata road and Mokwa-Tegina-Birnin-Gwari-Kaduna road which are federal roads.