The planned reintroduction of toll plazas on highways across the country has been described as one of those projects created to enrich friends of the government.
Civic rights activist and coordinator of Civic Duties Awareness Initiative (CIDAI), Mr. Emmanuel Ulayi, who stated this in a chat with LEADERSHIP WEEKEND, also stated that the minister of works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, who announced the development, must have been misinformed on the toll plaza project and urged him to rescind the decision.
Onolememen on Thursday announced that the federal government would reintroduce the toll plazas to garner funds for the regular rehabilitation of the highways. The minister added that the abrogation of the plazas in 2004 was a disservice to the country as the government alone could not maintain the roads.
Ulayi however said that the former toll plazas were dismantled because the purpose was defeated. According to him, instead of the tolls generating money for the maintenance of the roads, the toll plazas became a conduit-pipe through which the handlers of the projects enriched themselves.
Ulayi averred that those ugly conditions had not changed pointing out that the toll plazas would continue to be avenue for friends of the government to enrich themselves. “The reintroduction of the toll plazas is not a very good decision. When former President Obasanjo dismantled it the first time it was introduced, it was because of the sharp practices which the handlers perpetrated. There is no assurance that this project would not experience the same problem of the former toll plazas,” Ulayi said.