Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, said on Tuesday that he was seeking approval of the Federal Government, owners of the Ado – Akure Road, to fix and toll the road.

Fayemi, who said the toll became necessary in view of the directive from the Federal Government not to refund states henceforth for repair of federal roads and the need for him to pay back the loan he sourced from African Development Bank to fix the road.

The governor, who spoke during a colloquium themed, ‘Building a sustainable economy through values orientation and innovative thinking’, held to mark the first year of his second term in office, said that paucity of funds had forced the Federal Government to stop the states from rehabilitating federal roads.

Fayemi said, “We got some money from the AfDB to fix the Ado – Akure Road, but it is not our road. So I wrote to the President, requesting permission to fix this road. The Federal Works Ministry told me that if I did it, there would be no refund. I said okay, I don’t need a refund. Give me approval to fix it. We have been on this for three months.

 “I hope that the legislative branch of government will be able to convince the Federal Government that this is a joke. There are 36,000 kilometres of roads to be rehabilitated by FERMA. I don’t know what has been approved for FERMA in the current estimate for 2020, but I doubt if it’s up to N100million,” Fayemi said.

Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi and former Minister of Sports, Mr Bolaji Abdullahi, who spoke at the event, advised the country to redistribute its wealth and foster entrepreneurial education to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor citizens.

Source:- Punchng