The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) was established to ensure that Nigeria’s federal roads are maintained, rehabilitated and kept in good condition. Its responsibility is not merely to arrive after a road has deteriorated beyond use; it should also involve routine inspection, identifying emerging defects and ensuring that necessary maintenance is carried out before minor problems become major failures.
This raises an important question: if FERMA is actively monitoring federal roads, why do so many of them deteriorate to dangerous conditions before serious intervention begins?
Across the country, motorists encounter potholes, failed sections, eroded shoulders, damaged drainage systems and completely degraded road surfaces. In many cases, these problems do not develop overnight. A small pothole becomes a larger one; a blocked drainage channel begins to undermine the road; cracks spread; and eventually an entire section becomes hazardous. With effective monitoring and preventive maintenance, many of these failures should be detected and addressed much earlier.
FERMA: Where Is the Watchdog of Nigeria’s Federal Roads?
Road maintenance should not be driven primarily by public outcry, accidents or political pressure. It should be proactive. A functional road-monitoring system should know the condition of major federal roads, rank them according to urgency and deploy maintenance before deterioration becomes catastrophic.
FERMA therefore needs to be judged not only by the roads it repairs, but also by the roads it prevents from collapsing into disrepair.
Government cannot continue spending enormous sums rehabilitating roads that could have been preserved at a fraction of the cost through timely maintenance. Nigerians deserve a system that fixes roads before they become death traps—not one that waits until citizens complain, accidents occur and communities cry for help.
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If FERMA is truly monitoring and evaluating federal roads, the condition of many of our roads demands an explanation. The real measure of effective road maintenance is not how quickly we respond to failure, but how successfully we prevent failure in the first place.
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