The Senate yesterday ordered the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola to remove speed bumps on all federal highways in the country.
The resolution followed a motion jointly sponsored by Senators Barnabas Gemade (APC, Benue) and Stella Oduah (PDP, Anambra).
The Upper Legislative Chamber also asked the minister to cause owners of petrol filling stations to build a service lane of not less than 50meteres on both sides of their stations to avoid customers turning directly to and from the highways.
Senator Gemade while moving the motion noted with dismay thousands of speed bumps recently erected on almost all federal highways nationwide to control speed of motor vehicles plying the roads.
Arguing in favour of the motion, Joshua Moltobok (Gombe), said that if such bumps ”must be erected, they should be done professionally.”
Hear him:“Most of these bumps are erected at short distances creating problems for motorists. Heavy-duty trucks find it hard to manoeuvre on these roads and this causes accidents. If there is a need to install these road bumps, it must be done professionally and at reasonable intervals.”
But, lawmakers, Godswill Akpabio, PDP-Akwa Ibom, and Ike Ekweremadu, PDP-Enugu cautioned against the total removal of the speed bumps.
“We cannot totally eradicate speed bumps because of highly congested communities and schools on the highways. In this case, there is a need for control. Where we need to have bumps, there is a need to have signs like ‘one kilometre ahead’ so as to reduce accidents,” Akpabio noted.
At the end of debate, the Senate directed the ministry to remove all speed bumps indiscriminately erected on federal highways nationwide and to regulate and standardise erection where speed bumps must be located.
