ROAD MAINTENANCE IN

NIGERIA

A PAPER DELIVERED
BY

Engr Amos, G. C. M.ENG, B.ENG, MNSE

CHIEF MAINTENANCE ENGINEER, FERMA BENUE STATE

AT

ENGINEER SENIOR OFFICERS COURSE

(ESOC)
HELD AT THE NIGERIAN ARMY SCHOOL OF MILITARY

30TH April, 2008

ABSTRACT

This paper attempts to outline the trend of development in the road sub sector of Nigeria. It
reviews the general pattern of management and financing of this very critical sector which
plays an important role in the economic, political and socio-cultural sectors and as well as in
the security of the country.

It then takes a critical look at the various efforts that have been made over the years to
bring about reform in service delivery and concludes by identifying sustainable funding as
the panacea to the problem of large backlog 1 of deferred and overdue maintenance in the
road sector which invariably increases the cost of road transport and raises the net cost to
the economy as a whole.
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(30th April 2008)

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Traditionally the core of engineering activity in the road sub-

sector has consisted of the design and construction of new
roads. As roads are rarely taken out of commission, and the
prospect is, of fewer new roads being built, the main activity on
roads now and in the future is maintenance.

Maintenance as it relates to highways is the preserving and

keeping of each roadway, structure and facility as near as
possible in its original condition as constructed or as
subsequently improved and such additional work as is
necessary to keep traffic moving safely. It consists of correcting
deficiencies in the highway which has developed as a result of
age, wear, weather and damage arising from cumulative axle
loads and taking steps to prevent or delay the development of
other deficiencies. A programme of activities for road system
maintenance can be grouped into three broad headings

A Routine maintenance:
These involve regular small scale engineering activities
normally carried out on daily or weekly basis. They include
Desilting of drains, culverts and carriageway, pothole
patching, vegetation control, road furniture repairs
/replacement
B Periodic maintenance:
This include the renewal of surface at specified intervals,
such as re-gravelling (earth roads), resurfacing of
distressed sections of the carriageway, asphalt overlay,
pavement reconstruction and renewal of pavement
markings.
C Special maintenance:
This involves the restoration of unforeseen circumstance
such as flood damaged embankments, side drains, slopes
of cuttings, culvert outlets, bridge abutments and wing
walls, which may result in the road being cut, diverted or
made impassable.

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BENEFITS OF ROAD MAINTENANCE:

A well maintained road network serves the following main
purposes:
• Prolongs the life of the road and postpones the need
for reconstruction
• Reduces vehicle operating costs (VOC)
• Keeps the road open all the time, thereby promotes
punctuality and reduces travel time
• Promotes road safety, etc
• It makes for easier planning
1.0 THE NIGERIAN ROAD NETWORK

Roads in Nigeria are classified according to the function or

purpose served by the road and the administration or authority
exercising control over the road. Federal roads (those admitted
in the Federal Highways Act, 1971 with its amendment) were
classified as Trunk ‘A’, while regional roads were classified as
Trunk ’B’ and Local Government roads as Trunk ‘C’. However,
in 1974, 16,100 km of Trunk ‘B’ roads were acquired by the
Federal Government and subsequently re-designated as Trunk
‘F’ roads. Trunk ‘E’ roads represent the expressways. The Trunk
‘A’ roads are the major road arteries of the country. They run
north to south connecting the main seaports of Lagos, Warri,
Port Harcourt and Calabar to the hinterland and farming
communities.

In the 1970-74 2nd National Development Plan, one third of the

public sector capital programme was devoted to the transport
sector, most of which was spent on road transport. The 3rd
National Development Plan (1975-1980) the Transport Sector
was scheduled to spend N9.68billion out of a total plan
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expenditure of N43.31billion. Out of the total allocation to the

transport sector, expenditure on Federal roads and bridges
account for about N7.0billion.

Highways constitute the most prominent mode of

transportation in Nigeria and accounts for about Ninety-five
percent (95%) of the movement of goods and persons in the
country.

The present size of the total network of roads in Nigeria is a

dense grid of 194, 200 kilometres.
Table 1. Distribution and Ownership Road Network in Nigeria

JURISDICTI ROAD LENGTH (KM) TOTAL

ON
Type FEDERAL STATE LOCAL
GOVT
Paved Trunk 28,520 10,400 38,920
Roads

Unpaved Trunk 5,600 20,100 25,700

Roads

Urban Roads 21,900 21,900

Main Rural Roads 72,800 72,800

Village Access 34,880 34,880

roads

Total (Km) 34,120 30,500 129,580 194,20

0
Percentage (%) 17.56 15.71 66.73 100

In terms of National Assets, the total asset value of the over

194,200 kilometres of Nigeria roads is currently estimated as
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N4,567 billion (N4.6 trillion) which is broken down as indicated

below:

• Federal Roads N2,214billion

• State Roads N1,261billion

• Local and rural roads N1,092billion

Total N4,567billion

Given the huge amount of funds invested in the national road

system, it is imperative to protect this enormous asset on a
long term basis for the future generation and particularly the
economic development of the country through planned road
maintenance management strategy.

2.0 THE HISTORY OF ROAD MAINTENANCE IN NIGERIA

Roads Maintenance efforts aimed at continued improvement in

service delivery has a long history in Nigeria. These efforts
could be classified into various periods as follows:

A The Period Before 1939:

During this period the roads were mostly maintained by
the Native Authorities (NA) Administration. These were
mostly earth roads, with only a section of Lagos-Abeokuta
road tarred in 1926. There was an organisational set up
whereby labour intensive methods were employed. The
basic labour unit was a gang of 3 to 6 labourers, controlled
by a headman who assigned tasks on a dedicated stretch
of the road to them. The men (mostly daily paid) usually
lived in road camps within 7-10 km section and the
headman carried out his inspection on bicycle. Four to six
gangs were in turn, controlled by a road overseer. This
overseer reported to a foreman or a technical officer who
then reported to the district engineer.
B The Period Up To 1975:
Before 1975, the Federal Ministry of Works was
responsible for the maintenance of Trunk ‘A’ roads. The
field maintenance works was carried out by the State
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Ministries of Works on an agency basis, for which they

were paid agency fees and plant hire charges. In Lagos
area with approximately 80km of federal roads,
maintenance was done by direct labour. This was done
under the supervision of maintenance units based at Ijora.
The overall control of the maintenance activities all over
the country was exercised at the Headquarters in Lagos,
by the Chief Engineer (Highways Maintenance).
The practice then was for State Ministries to forward their
request for fund for the forthcoming year giving details of
their claims to the Federal Ministry of works (FMW).
Subsequently, the FMW issued once-and-for-all financial
warrants in the form of Authority to Incur Expenditure
(AIE’s) to the states. These allocations to states were
based on mileage, surface type and width of the federal
roads in question. They were also to submit monthly
progress and financial reports to FMW. There were,
however, no federal representatives in the states to
ascertain the veracity of the reports.
C The Period Between 1975 - 1981:
In May 1974, contract was signed between Federal
Ministry of works and Kampsax (Nigeria) Limited
commissioning the consultant to implement the report of
the Nigeria Highway Maintenance Study earlier carried out
by the consultant. By this time, Government had decided
that the maintenance of the federal trunk road network
termed the ‘Nigeria Highway Maintenance Project’
should be executed by the Federal Ministry of Works under
the aegis of a Federal Highway Maintenance Organisation.
At this time the Federal roads was made up of 13,000
kilometres of Trunk ’A’ roads and 16,000 Kilometres of
trunk ‘F’ roads. The scope of the project involved the
establishment of 52 No. Highway maintenance Districts to
handle maintenance works throughout the country. In
the transition period, from 1975 a gradual transfer of
responsibility for federal roads from states to the Federal
Highway Maintenance Organisation took place.
In February 1978, the Government took a hard look at the
slow progress made in the implementation of the ‘Nigeria
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Highways Maintenance Project’ and decided to hand over

the maintenance of federal roads back to the States once
again on ‘agency basis ‘ but this time, appointed Federal
Liaison Engineers to monitor the maintenance activities by
the States. This state of affairs, however, did not last long,
because three years later, it was again decided that the
FMW should take-over from the States, the responsibility
for the maintenance of all federal roads.
D The Period Between 1981 - 2002:
In 1981, about 6,500 kilometres of federal roads were
given out in small groups for ‘maintenance by contract’. In
1982 another set of 5,300kilometres of federal roads were
added to the exercise. Towards the end of 1983, nearly all
federal roads outside Lagos were given out on
‘maintenance by contract’. Officers of the Highways
Division in the various FMW field offices were in charge of
supervision. As a result of inadequate allocation of funds
to FMW, the maintenance contracts were not
comprehensively executed. From time to time, meagre
allocations were released to field offices for special repairs
of Federal roads not covered by the ‘maintenance by
contract’ scheme.
E The Period Between 2002 - Date:
Following increasing problems arising from poor
maintenance and grossly inadequate funds to address the
issues, the Federal Highways Department of FMW over the
years has come to recognised that existing approaches to
road management and financing have created critical
problems revolving around:
• No planned maintenance programme
• No needs-based planning and programming of
activities
• Inappropriate organizational structure for
managing the road system – institutional issues
• High level of indebtedness to contractors

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• Too much emphasis on new construction to the

detriment of maintenance
• Lack of budget realism – erratic and unstable,
need for alternative source of funding for road
maintenance
• The concept of road user charges has not been
imbibed within the system. The private sector
and major stakeholders are not involved in road
maintenance
• Lack of continuity over time, leading to long
years of neglect and backlog of deferred or
delayed maintenance
• No training programs for highway personnel at
all levels
• Lack of an effective management information
system for network based planning and
financing
In June 1996, the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing
organized a workshop tagged ‘Road Vision 2000’ (Reform
on Management and Financing of the Road Sector). At this
forum a consensus was reached on the need to reform the
management and financing of Nigeria’s road sector
through:
 Creation of an Autonomous Road Agency to be
known as National Road Board(NRB)
 Creation of National Road Fund(NRF) to be
managed by the National Road Board
 Creation of an enabling framework for Private
Sector Participation in the management and
financing of the road sector
A Presidential Policy Advisory Committee (PPAC) was set
up in 1999 to look into the state of the national
infrastructure. The committee recommended, among
other things, that the funding of highways should be
improved by establishing a road Fund which will derive its
fund from the following sources:
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 Highway tolls
 Vehicle taxes
 Truck weigh bridges
 Parking fees
 Petroleum tax
However, The Federal Government instead sponsored a
Bill for the establishment of a Federal Roads Maintenance
Agency (FERMA).
3.0 FEDERAL ROADS MAINTENANCE AGENCY (FERMA)

The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) came into

being on November 30th 2002, with the enactment of the
Federal Roads Maintenance Agency Establishment Act 2002,
which empowers the agency to monitor and maintain Federal
roads nationwide. It has since taken over the responsibility for
the maintenance of Federal Highways nationwide from the
Federal Highways Department of FMW. The presently FERMA is
governed by a Board of directors made up of a representative
each of all the six geo-political zones as well as representatives
of various stakeholders groups across the country. A Managing
Director, who is assisted by seven Executive Directors are
responsible for day- to -day operations. To ensure effectiveness
of operations, each state of the Federation and the FCT has a
Chief Maintenance Engineer (CME) who is supported by an
array of other staff.

A Activities:
The mode of operation is a mix of maintenance by
contract and by direct labour, and this has led FERMA to
have positively impacted on road maintenance in the
following ways:

• Faster response to special and emergency repairs

• Re-introduction of Direct Labour (Force Account)

method of road repairs
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• Re-introduction of road camp concept

• Operation 500 roads across the six geo-political

zones-The main objective was to undertake massive
repairs and maintenance of 500 selected roads
covering a total of 26,400 kilometres of road network
before the commencement of the 2004 rainy season.

• Introduction of Maintenance through Retainership-by

rate contracts for trunk roads

• Procurement of Asphalt plant to enhance local

capacity

• Establishment of road support services (RSSC)

• Enhancement of road safety and collaboration with

the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC)

• Improved road maintenance initiative and

relationship with the States

• Support service to Federal Institutions.

B Challenges:
From the inception of operation in 2003, the Agency had
been confronted with problems of how to address the
terrible state of federal road network which could only be
attended to from the standpoint of repairs of failed
segments and with a short term aim of keeping the road in
motorable condition for use of the public. In other words,
the agency could not at any time since inception embark
on actual programmed maintenance of the road network,
but rather on the repair of road failures.

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5%
10%

50%

35% Bad
Poor
Good
Very Good

Fig.1 State of Federal Roads Before

2003

When the Agency commenced operation in 2003, the Federal

road network was in a state of total disrepair, which is a
reflection of the large backlog of deferred maintenance. About
50% of the network had collapsed, only 5% of the network
could pass for roads in very good structural state, 35% were in
a poor structural state condition and 10% in good condition.

The short term strategy adopted by FERMA and the Federal

Highways Department of Federal Ministry of Transportation
adding 10% to the quantum of very good road within the
network, the situation by 2007 has slightly improved, such that
the quality structure of the federal road network is that 15% is
in very good condition, 20% in good condition, 30% in poor
condition and 35% is in very bad condition. While the Agency
continues to intervene in all these segments of the road, it is
very important that the present state of the road network
structure is sustained and improved upon. In other words the
good roads should be prevented from degenerating into the
poor and bad conditions, while adequate programme should be
put in place to upgrade or strengthen the quality of the roads
that are in the poor and bad category. Other challenges the
Agency was confronted with from inception included:

• Inadequate funding for road maintenance –In

Nigeria the main source of fund for road activities is
through Budgetary allocations; in view of other
competing needs, for the available resources, the
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network cannot be put in a sustainable stable

condition through such financing mechanism.

• Limited disposition for objective

implementation of its programme

• Teething problem of infrastructural

establishment of its operation as a new Agency

• Undue interference in its operation and most

recently;

• Inability to meet its contractual obligations

It is in recognition of these problems that the Agency

commenced the planned turn-around of its operation with the
objective for an effective medium term result and a rewarding
long term benefit on its road maintenance initiative.

C FERMA’s Medium Term Strategy for Road Sector

Maintenance Management:
Under its short Term Road Maintenance Management Strategy,
the Agency adopted the Direct Labour, Retainership by- Rate
Contract and regular contract methods to carry out its
activities. Rather than allow itself to be bogged down within
limited scope of attending to the emergency repair of road, the
Agency developed its Medium Term Road Sector Management
Strategy that will guarantee a holistic and effective
maintenance management of the federal road network. The
objective of the strategy is to first and foremost address the
issue of incessant road failure, by applying the principles of
preventive maintenance measures that will help in stabilizing
the structural strength of the road pavement. This will then be
backed up by a programme that will enhance and upgrade the
quality of the road infrastructure and ultimately run a
programme that will sustain the desired road network. These
initiatives are:

• Performance Based Maintenance Management (PBMM)

programme
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• Systemic Road Strengthening and Enhancement (SRSE)

programme

The objective of the PBMM concept is to establish a holistic

and comprehensive market driven and public private
participatory routine maintenance of existing fairly good roads
within the network and are sustainably managed in such a way
that their quality will remain in the same state serviceability
and aesthetics for as long as the road is in use.

The approach adopted to actualise SRSE initiative is to embark

on the overlay and enhancement of the road pavement and
drainage structures of carefully selected segments of the road
network on an annual basis over a period of 8-10 years. In this
regard, about 3,500km of the road network can enjoy the
benefit from the road strengthened annually under the SRSE
programme. Any segment that benefit from the road
strengthening programme would have, in each case, been
transformed by having its life span extended for about 10-
15years; while the PBMM programme will be utilized to support
and enhance the structural stability and quality of such roads
under the programme.

4.0 FUNDING OF ROAD MAINTENANCE :

The normal budgetary allocations have been proven to be

grossly inadequate over the years. Even the amounts allocated
are never released at the right time thereby making the flow of
road maintenance funds very erratic. Without adequate, stable
and sustainable funding, road maintenance policies have been
highly unstable in the country.

His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,

at the opening ceremony of the 13th Nigerian Economic Summit
on the 5th of September, 2007; stated inter alia “....it has been
estimated that Nigeria would require an annual
infrastructure investment ranging between 6 billion and 9
billion dollars per year. It is clear that the resources
available to government despite high oil prices- are

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inadequate to cope with these many challenges. The task

therefore is to put in place an appropriate framework to
mobilize non government resources for the upgrading,
maintenance and expansion of our physical infrastructure.
The business community is best placed to drive this process
of sourcing the needed funding for the development of the
quality and quantity of our infrastructure.”

The financing of road projects is a global problem and Nigeria is

no exception and countries all over the world have tried to
alleviate the problems through adopting strategies and
exploring complementary sources of funds for managing their
road network. The most obvious way forward for road
maintenance funding and management is the adoption and
implementation of the objectives of Road Vision 2000, which
recommends among others the creation of a National Road
Fund to be managed by a National Road Board to ensure stable
and sustainable funding for road sector. Sources of funding
recommended include road user charge such as:

 Fuel levy (petroleum tax)

 Road and bridge tolling

 Taxes on automobile parts

 Vehicle registration fee

 International Transit fees, and

 Axle load penalties

On 25th November, 2005 the ‘Infrastructures Concession

Regulation and Related Matters Act 2005 was enacted.
Government has through the Act created an enabling
environment for private sector participation in road
development and maintenance and these can be achieved
through the Build Operate and Transfer philosophy.

By definition, Concession is the award of a right to build, own

and operate a public service infrastructure for a given period. In
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financial terms, concession financing is the design arrangement

and implementation of a financial package for a major project
in which the lenders will only look up to the future cash flows of
the project and the projects assets as the principal form of
guarantee.

The other variant of BOT that relate to the road sub-sector for
existing roads are:

 R.O.T - Rehabilitate Operate and Transfer

 L.M.T - Lease Maintain and Transfer

 M.O.T - Maintain Operate and Transfer

The operator will be in charge of the operation and

maintenance of the road as well as the collection of tolls during
the operation phase.

ADVANTAGES OF TOLL FINANCING

The advantages of employing toll financing for road include at

least the following:

• Only user of a particular toll road pays for the higher

level of service enjoyed and not all road users, most
of whom would not have occasion to use the facility.
This is not the case with most other sources of
revenue, where the tax payer pays whether he uses
the road or not

• The budgetary allocation of road financing is one

where the present generation pays for the benefits to
be enjoyed by the future generations, whereas with
the toll system of financing, future generations also
pay for the benefits derived from better road facilities

• Toll financing involves the floating of capital market

loans and the re-payment of those loans from toll
revenue. This imposes a market related discipline on

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public investment, which leads to better allocation of

scarce resources.

• Control points, such as toll plazas, have salutary

effect on road users, resulting in markedly lower
accident statistics on tolled road as compared with
other roads.

• Tolled road projects are designed in such a manner

that routine maintenance and rehabilitation are taken
care of throughout the life of the toll projects.

5.0 CONCLUSION :

It is manifestly clear that

• Government cannot sustainably fund all perceived

road maintenance activities within a fiscal year
through budgetary framework, which most times the
releases are untimely and have been made off
seasons.

• The idea of establishing FERMA is laudable, serious

thought must be given to the sustainable funding of
its maintenance activities

• Complementary strategies must be adopted to

alleviate the funding problems for road maintenance
in the country.

• The economic costs of the poor state of the road

network are borne mainly by the road users. Cutting
back on road maintenance, therefore increases the

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cost of road transport and raise the net cost to the

economy as a whole

REFERENCES:

1) Engr Unuigbe C.A , “Maintenance of Federal Highways”.

A paper presented at the 3-day retreat for management
staff of Federal Ministry of Works held in Kaduna from the
3rd – 6th March 2005

2) Road Management and Financing in Nigeria:

Proposal for Reform –Road Vision 2000 (1999)

3) Highway Maintenance Training Programmes in

Nigeria (Kampasax 1980)

4) Engr Olugbekan O. , ” Road Maintenance in

Nigeria”(1979)

5) Highway Maintenance in Nigeria: “Lessons from Other

Countries”-(Document of the board of Directors CBN 2004)
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ROAD MAINTENANCE IN NIGERIA AMOS, G.C.
(30th April 2008)

6) Engr Bello P.A., “The Challenges of Road Maintenance In

Nigeria”. A paper presented at the induction workshop for
newly recruited engineers of the Federal Roads
Maintenance Agency held in Merit House , Abuja. 15th
May 2007

7) Engr Peters O.O,. “The challenges of Road Maintenance

and rehabilitation”. A paper presented at a construction
seminar organized by Oando Plc at Transcorp Hilton Hotel,
Abuja. 15th November 2006

8) Federal Roads Maintenance Agency “Medium Term

Strategy for Road Sector Maintenance Management-The
Nigeria Solution “ (2007)

9) Engr Fadaka B “Private Sector Participation in

Management and Financing of Roads and Highways”. A
Paper presented at a Workshop Organised by World Bank
in collaboration with Federal Ministry of works –On Lessons
for Road Management in sub Saharan Area held at
Chelsea Hotel, Abuja.3rd May 2004

10) Engr Otobo G.E. “Supervision of Roads and Bridges

Construction In Nigeria ”. A Paper presented at the 24th
International ABG Conference of Civil engineers and
Consultants held at The Maritim Conference Hotel
Braunlage, West Germany. 17th -19th May, 197

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