The Federal Government (FG) has decried incessant attacks on government infrastructure in the country.
This was even as it appealed to those vandalising government properties in the country to desist from doing so.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, made the appeal during his presentation at the Townhall Meeting on Protecting Public Infrastructure organized by the Federal Ministry of Information, in Abuja.
He noted that no nation grows beyond the capacity of its infrastructure, stating that the country’s ability “to grow, to develop and to prosper, to get an education and essential to living a good life is tied to quality and quantity of infrastructure that we have.
The Minister further explained that properties damaged under the purview of his Ministry included bridges across the nation such as Otedola and Kara bridges in Lagos, Tamburawa Bridge in Kano among others which would respectively cost N203million, N605million and N1.8bilion naira to repair.
He maintained that these monies could have been expended on other sectors such as health, education among others.
Fashola disclosed that another form in which the bridge was abused included the conversion of spaces under the bridge to shops and the use of parking spaces for businesses, adding that the Ministry had started the process of recovery of all these spaces with the aim of ensuring that they are utilized for their legitimate purposes.
The Minister also condemned the vandalism of signages on the Federal Highways across the country.
He explained that “Signages have begun to reappear on the nation’s highways but these signages have become targets of some people and turned to billboards for the campaign.”
He added that some of them were outrightly carted away.
The Minister noted that though there are existing laws to punish these criminal acts but they were no longer realistic in view of the economic changes that have taken place since the time they were enacted and now and to this end, called for the quick amendment of the laws so that offenders could be adequately punished.
Fashola also called upon the citizens to take responsibility for government properties and stand up against vandalism and willful destruction of the commonwealth of the country.
Source: Tribune
