The Federal Government, has revealed plans to re-categorise some federal roads in states where infrastructure developments had affected such federal roads.

Re-categorisation implies that the roads will be ceded to the states and left for the states.

 The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, said this at the National Assembly, when he met with members of the House of Representatives to defend the 2017 budget proposals on works.

The minister met with the House Committee on Works, which is chaired by a member from Enugu State, Mr. Toby Okechukwu. Works, housing and power have a combined vote of N529bn for 2017.

Fashola explained that when some of the roads were conceived “40 to 50 years” ago, they were meant to be bye-passes located far away from the city centres.

He noted that developments over the years had, however, caught up with the roads, such that they were now in the heart of cities.

Fashola listed the Kaduna Western Bye-Pass as one of such federal roads that would be left for the Kaduna State Government.

He also cited the Umuahia-Aba Road in Abia State as a federal road that would be ceded to the states. Fashola stated, “Many years ago, we didn’t have the city infrastructure we have today around those roads.

“Like the Western Bye-Pass in Kaduna, which the governor (El-Rufai) has given indication to take over.

“We will come back to the National Assembly to look into this.”

The minister also sought an urgent review of the procurement processes in the country to increase the pace of project execution.

“The procurement process is too long and we need to shorten the time.

“For a country like Nigeria, where there is a gap of infrastructure, we must be able to move faster than we are doing right now. It is one of the ways to recover the economy from recession,” he added.

• Punch