FG’ll employ 47,000 workers to fix roads – Fashola

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has disclosed at a stakesholders meeting organised by the Council on the Regulation on Engineering in Niheria (COREN), that the Federal Government will employ 47,000 people to fix federal roads across the country.

Fashola, who gave examples of Singapore and Canada as countries which harnessed technical/vocational education for national development assured participants that the Federal Govt already had a plan on how to implement the idea, collaborating with the legislature. He said “We, therefore, conclude that technical education systems are dynamic, the challenges are, of course, unique because human needs vary with time. So, we have to shape our educational system based on our economy. Our system must therefore be relevant and responsive. We must plan for the future and not the past.

“Now, Nigeria is investing heavily in infrastructure. In the 2016 national budget, capital allocation alone was N1.8tn, which is a jump to 30 per cent of the total budget. We are currently planning for all these infrastructure that we are building, and I’m happy that the Chairman, House Committee on Works (Mr. Toby Okechukwu) is here.

“The idea is to actually change FERMA, which is to review the FERMA law and come up with another law. The essence is that FERMA should ultimately be the biggest construction company in this country. The idea is to employ about 47,000 people just to fix roads and the plan is there. Hopefully, I’m sure that working with the House and the Senate, we will be able to get that done.”