Abuja — The Senate yesterday mandated its standing committee on works to immediately summon the Works Minister, Dr.Hassan Lawan and the authorities of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to appear before it and explain why Nigerians have continued to lose their lives on the highways as a result of bad roads, in spite of yearly appropriations.

This came on the heels of a motion on the multiple accidents at Umunya section of the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway where 70 lives were lost.

Moving the motion, the Senator representing Anambra North in the Senate, Joy Emodi, noted that Nigerians are being exposed to danger on a daily basis as result of the negligence of various government agencies, " in this case the federal ministry of works, has failed to carry out its assigned responsibilities"

The motion also said, "The ministry of works has not shown responsive concern to the poor state of federal roads especially the Onitsha-Enugu expressway".

It was the argument of Senator Emodi, "that road maintenance and rehabilitation contracts are often awarded to incompetent companies as evident in the poorly executed jobs they do thus resulting in further damaging of these already dilapidated roads and resulting in several auto accidents."

According to her, the primary cause of the accident and attendant loss of lives was as a result of a fully laden petrol tanker turning over and spilling its contents at a bad section of the road, and subsequently exploding and burning more than 70 people including school children in eight vehicles.

Contributing to the motion, Senator Sahabi Ya'u from Zamfara State, said the blame should not be entirely placed on bad roads, arguing that drivers who ply the roads should exercise patience while driving.