FERMA synergises with NHITE on roads condition
By Matthew Denis
In a bid to improve the conditions of the roads cutting across the country, the Federal Road Maintenance Agency and Nigeria Highway Institution and Transport Engineers are putting plans to further strengthen their relationship.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Federal Road Maintenance Agency, Dr. Chukwuemeka Agbasi made the disclosure while receiving the leadership of NHITE in a courtesy visit recently.
The agency will formally sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigeria Highway Institution and Transport Engineers to cement a working relationship towards improving the quality of Nigerian roads.
He said, “You are part of us considering the fact that most of the people here are familiar therefore FERMA will participate fully in the two training programmes. Going forward I think it will be necessary for us to formalise our relationship not just having this training programme we want to have.
“We should have an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with clear goals and objectives where we are going to partner together.”
The MD stressed that their goal is to transform FERMA in terms of acquiring new knowledge and putting it into practice thereby improving the operational activities.
“We are also trying to benchmark our processes because of where we are now and where we want to be and I believe that there are a lot of roles we can play together.
“The agency within our mandate of maintaining our roads have some set objectives that have been identified like Road conditions, budgeting and we still need to look at alternative ways of funding which is very germane for our survival.
“In the next four years we should have a target in spite of all the constraints we face. We should still have a target on where we are going which has to be data centric to monitor our performance yearly.”
Earlier, the Chairman of Nigeria Highway Institution and Transport Engineers, Engr. Saidu Hassan stressed that they were there to congratulate him and to collaborate for the betterment of roads.
He said, “We want to appreciate your agency for the support during our last year workshop and also want to inform you that this year by June, we are going to have an international training workshop with Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) on pavement road designs, modern techniques. We are seeking your agency’s participation in the workshop.”
Engr. Hassan revealed that they will be having another training in September in terms of bridge construction, supervision among others, therefore, they want FERMA’s full participation.
