According to The Guardian, Fashola, made the disclosure on Monday, December 9, 2019 when he received the executive members of the Public Transport Owners of Nigeria Association (PTONA) in Abuja.

The minister was also reported as saying that in the last four years, the ministry had not received a trillion naira allocation, but has been able to pay contractors only N72 billion.

Fashola added that despite the huge debt owed road contractors, he has met with the affected companies and convinced them to return to site.

According to Fashola, the entire road, sea and air traveling routes are important not only to Mr. President but also to all Nigerians, as “government wants to lift people from the state of poverty to prosperity.”

Nigeria's road networks and surfaces are some of the most deplorable in the world.

Fashola recently announced that the federal government will explore the tolling option to fund the maintenance of kilometers of federal roads.

Fashola received plenty of flak in November when he said the nation's roads are not as bad as the media have portrayed.