FG grants approval for SURE-P/FERMA task force THE federal government has granted approval to the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) and Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) task force set up to maintain traffic on the federal roads in Lagos State to resume full operations on the roads. The National Coordinator of the agency, Alhaji Abdulrazak Rafiu Otto explained that the organisation will, in the next couple of weeks deploy its men to federal roads in the state to maintain law and order. Otto however warned that any attempt by the Lagos State government or its officials to interfere in the management of traffic on the federal roads would be resisted insisting that the Act setting up SURE-P/FERMA empowers it to carry out such civic responsibility on federal roads. Warning intruders to steer clear of activities of the establishment, Otto said the return of the agency was made possible following several efforts it put on ground with the support of the federal government to ensure adequate facilities including human capacity and other logistics were on ground. The re-commencement of operations by the agency is coming following the training, screening and orientation already given to the new recruits for the job. According to Otto: “All plans to resume work and operation on the federal roads in Lagos State are almost perfected and very soon, we will be on the federal roads to maintain law and order. As at date, we have thousands of men trained for this job and I can tell you authoritatively that they are men and women who are qualified to carry out the duties that would be assigned to them. “Tricks by anyone in the state to prevent the agency from performing its civic duty to maintain and control traffic on the federal roads in the state will be dealt with under the federal government law”, Otto added. Investigations carried by Sunday Tribune, showed that the delay in the full resumption of the agency may not be unconnected with the decision of the management to fine tune issues of staff salary structure and scope of work with the federal government. With the federal government approval for the structure and scope of work for the agency, the agency is expected to take over the full control of traffic and other logistics on all federal roads in Lagos State. Commenting on the development, the National Director of Publicity for the establishment, Olawale Oyeboh assured all road users of better traffic services on the federal roads even as he declared that indications from various road users and the general public on the resumption of the establishment has been encouraging. It would be recalled that about a month ago, SURE-P/FERMA and Lagos State taskforce had accused each other of causing crisis in the state. While the SURE-P/FERMA had accused the Lagos State taskforce of invading its office along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and carted away several items, the Lagos State taskforce on the other hand alleged that the organisation was carrying out illegal activities on the state roads. The National Coordinator insisted that Sure-P/FERMA task force was set up to maintain law and order on the Federal Government’s roads in the state and that the organisation had over the years been working with the Federal Government.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 08:27:16 +0000
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