Why are reintroducing toll booths – FG
The Federal Government is bent on forging ahead with the reintroduction of toll booths on major roads across the country.
The Minister of State for Works, Bashir Yuguda, said Thursday in Abuja that the planned re-introduction of tolling system was meant to make additional funds available for road management.
Yuguda, who spoke at the Federal Roads and Bridges Tolling Policy Consultative Forum organised by the Ministry, Mr. Yuguda said that the tolling policy was being re-introduced to open up the sector to local and international investors and to make more funds available for road maintenance.
He said the new policy would be pursued on a Public Private Partnership basis unlike in the past when it was implemented through public service with all its trappings of inadequacies and mismanagement.
'Nigeria operated toll roads for several years, and it was abandoned in 2004 due to legal disputes, revenue leakages and unmet maintenance of the tolled roads.
'However, substantial benefits can be derived from tolling; road tolling has been tried and tested in many countries.
'Nigeria can usefully refer to the experience of other countries, apply lessons learnt and follow best practice in successfully building, managing and maintaining such roads 'The green paper on the proposed tolling policy on federal roads and bridges calls for a fresh start,'' he said.
He said more than 90 per cent of economic and social activities in the country entailed plying the roads, and thereby putting pressure on them.
The minister explained that funds are therefore needed to maintain roads to keep them in good condition.
Mr. Yuguda said the tolling policy would ensure improvement in the quality and safety of roads, as well as adoption of international best practice in road management.
He said the Green Paper on the policy would be deliberated on by stakeholders in the sector and submitted to the Federal Executive Council for approval.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had in 2004 ordered the dismantling of toll gates across the country, citing loss of revenue to government and poor maintenance of the tolled roads.POLITICS PDP challenges reinstatement of Oyinlola as national secretary in Supreme Court
THE Ogun state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP led by Adebayo Dayo and Semiu Sodipo has headed to the Supreme Court following the judgement of the Court of Appeal which on Wednesday reversed the sack of the national secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
The state PDP chapter
on Thursday approached the Supreme Court to file a notice of appeal challenging the judgement.
Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had on January 11 sacked Oyinlola on ground that the congress that produced him from the South West was in disobedience to a court order.
On appeal, the sack was reversed by the Appellate Court.
Not satisfied, the respondents at the appeal court had approached the apex court through their counsel, Ajibola Oluyede.
In their grounds of appeal, the appellant submitted that the court erred in law when it overturned and set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court in the action on the basis that the order sought to be enforced in this action, which was made in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/282/2012, was made in breach of the 1st Defendant's right to fair hearing because he was not a party to that action in which the order was made.
The appellants also submitted that the court erred in law when it held that the current action was an abuse of process.
They also submitted that the lower court erred in law when it found that the 1st Defendant had filed an application for stay of the order (made in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/282/2013) at Court of Appeal Lagos Division when the current action to enforce the said order was filed and prosecuted.
They, however, prayed the apex court for an order reversing/setting aside the judgment and orders made by the Court of Appeal and an order reinstating the judgment of the federal High Court in this matter and all orders made therein.Listing the particulars of error, Oluyede submitted that the Court failed to realise that it had no jurisdiction to invalidate/nullify the order made in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/282/2012 WHEN THERE WAS NO APPEAL AGAINST THAT ORDER BEFORE IT and that the Court went on a voyage of discovery in arriving at this conclusion because there was no appeal or valid complaint against that order before it in the appeal.
He further submitted that the order of the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/282/2012 WAS MADE WITHIN THE DISCIPLINARY JURISDICTION OF THE Federal High Court in order to restore its ability to deal with the substantive issues raised in that action and as punishment for breach of its interlocutory order by the Respondents in that action and in that context was a final order in respect of which the 1st Defendant could have appealed as an interested party (even though not a party to the action) since the order tangentially affected his interests as a nominee of the invalid South West congress that was nullified by that order.
Oyinlola hails Appeal Court verdict
Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola who was reinstated by the court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Wednesday as the National Secretary of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party,PDP,on Thursday hailed the verdict of the court saying that he had been vindicated on his stand that he was unjustly removed from office in the first instance.
Prince Oyinlola's reaction to the Appeal Court verdict on the matter was contained in a statement made available to news men in Abuja on Thursday,saying that he gave glory to God that his stand that he was unjustly removed from office had been vindicated by the verdict.
According to him,'this development further reinforces my belief in the fact that truth is unassailable, and that the path of truth may be long but arrival at its destination is, however, definite.'
The statement read in part,'I give glory to God that my stand that I was unjustly removed has been vindicated by the Appeal Court'.
'The position of the law and the Constitution of the PDP on this matter is very clear, I don't want to pre-empt anybody but you would remember that the PDP immediately complied with the judgement of Hon. Justice Kafarati which removed me from office, claiming to be a law abiding organisation.'
'I don't know if there will be a variance of stand now that the appelate court has ruled in favour of Oyinlola that the Kafarati judgement was unfair and must not be allowed to stand.'
'Let's leave other issues for consideration as events unfold,' he declared.