The Nigerian Senate is proposing the return of tolls on federal roads and the setting aside of 0.5 percent of fares paid by commercial bus/taxi passengers for interstate trips to generate funds for the rehabilitation and maintenance of roads in the country.
Also, a proposal of N5 will be imposed on every litre of petrol and diesel imported or refined in the country for the same purpose.
Consideration of reports by the Committee on the National Roads Fund Establishment Bill and the Federal Road Authority Establishment Bill, 2017 was listed on the Order Paper of Thursday.
In the report on the National Roads Fund, the panel listed the sources of funding to include a fuel levy of N5 chargeable per litre on any volume of petrol and diesel products imported into the country and on locally refined petroleum products.
Other sources are axle load control charges and tolls not exceeding 10 per cent of any revenue paid as user charge per vehicle on any federal road designated as a toll road, which will not be applicable to roads under public-private partnership plans.
The panel also recommended international vehicle transit charges and inter-state mass transit user charge of 0.5 per cent deductible from the fare paid by passengers to commercial mass transit operators on inter-state roads.
It also proposed a roads’ fund surcharge of 0.5 per cent chargeable on the assessed value of any vehicle imported at any time into the country, as well as lease, licensing or other fees, which shall be 10 per cent of the revenue accruing from the lease or licensing or other fees pertaining to non-vehicular road usages along any federal road and collected by the federal roads agency.
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.
