Leadership (Abuja)
Ebahi Ifidon-Ekuerhare
18 November 2008
opinion
Abuja — Alot has been said about the state of the roads in Nigeria and this will not be the last. In fact after this piece, proper research will be done, investigations carried, and the right people talked to in order to know what lies beneath the nature of the ever horrible-looking roads in the country which those in power, who are supposed to be in charge of, have neglected, and the way forward.
Considering former President Obasanjo's inaugural address of May 1999: "... Transport is the lifeline of the economy and social interactions. An inefficient transport system implies stagnation in all sectors. Our priorities in this sector will be the design and implementing a new policy on road maintenance ..."
This statement was made a long time ago with feigned seriousness but the results of this pronouncement are yet to be realised. This is the case with Nigeria and the so-called government that obtains here: so much talk and no work. I wonder when they will get tired of talking and set out to work.
Some state governments seem satisfied with making a joke out of it by filling a few potholes here and there. They should take road construction and maintenance as a development challenge. The conditions of the roads nationwide call for a more honest approach from all tiers of government. But the fact is that some of them do not know the difference between maintaining, constructing and even rehabilitating-a problem with diction I guess.
Maintenance is the provision of means to preserve the value of existing assets against depreciation, while rehabilitation is the refurbishment of an asset after near or total collapse. In Nigeria, from time immemorial, roads that are supposed to be maintained are merely redecorated, while roads that are supposed to be rehabilitated were just overlaid with some asphaltic material. It is difficult to differentiat between rehabilitation and maintenance of roads in the Nigerian context.
The construction which costs so much money sometimes is not even carried out appropriately. How can you construct a road without drainage systems? What kind of contract was awarded and what kind of structural engineer did the layout? When you visit the eastern part of the country where you have terrible erosion problems and appalling roads, most of these roads are without drainage systems, but you see the sign post of FERMA at strategic locations and their make-believe equipment on the road, causing nothing but obstruction.
Most times we see state governments pretending to be making repairs, not maintaining or refurbishing these roads, and at the end of the day outrageous amounts of money are claimed to have been spent on these projects, for heavens sake we have gone far beyond trying to deceive ourselves and the outside world.
The 'ember' months are here again where we have massive movement of people plying these roads. To where and for what purpose is another research that should be carried out on a later date, as to why people select these 'deadly months' to risk their lives on our 'very good roads'.
The provision of roads and transportation facilities is fundamentally important to the development of Nigeria as well as the well-being of its inhabitants. Nigerian roads need urgent attention, considering that a good number of people lose their lives on daily basis through road accidents. The Federal Ministry of Works is charged with the responsibility of planning, designing, construction and maintenance of Federal Highways. The 36 State Ministries of Works and Transport have similar responsibility for the State roads while the 774 Local Government Works Departments have the responsibilities for Local Government roads. Simply put, they have failed. The works and the workings of the Works ministry are no longer workable.
A case in point is that of Edo state where I suppose I come from. The truth is Lucky Igbinedion is alleged to have stolen all the monies belonging to the people of Edo. When he was governor of the state, instead of working on those very disgraceful roads and erosion problems in the ancient city, which even rendered many people homeless, he might have decided to line his pockets and damn the consequences that may come from the EFCC. Osunbor, however came on board and tried to see that roads within the state were worked onbut he has been shipped but by the Appeal Court ruling.
Tony Anenih, the former Minister for Works and Housing, is also from Edo state and during his tenure billions were pumped for the maintenance of roads in Nigeria. He did not attend to federal roads, state roads or even local government roads, if there is anything of that sort; but Oga what did you do with the money for roads? There, again, the ministry of works remained unworkable.
Many of our so-called big men have preferred traveling by road to traveling by air. Governors would always go by air, taking along their aides and a host of others in their entourage, spending government resources on these 'productive journeys'. Who told them the air is safer than the road? If they have made efforts to maintain the roads they would not leave these bad roads to the ordinary man to die on.
Only recently the Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress criticised a statement made by the Minister of Transportation, Mrs. Diezani Allison Madueke, that the current global financial crisis is the reason why federal roads have not been rehabilitated. According to the statement,
"We express disappointed in Madueke who made hypocritical commitment to fix Nigerian roads when she was appointed but has now relapsed into a lame duck Minister that has presided over the complete annihilation of Nigerian roads. We ask what Madueke and the impotent government she is serving have done before the financial crisis to merit this cheap passing of buck. We also ask what this government has done before now on the increasingly deteriorating Nigerian roads to merit this cheap excuse.
"Madam do you think Nigerians are daft and foolish? This is yet another cheap attempt to play on the intelligence of Nigerians by the incompetent people that have been foisted on the country to destroy and render it unworkable. There is dignity in labour and it should be done with all sense of responsibility. These roads need to be worked on to, at least, a reasonable extent in order to give the country a facelift.
Sometime ago when the cabinet came in, the minister was seen to have visited the Lagos/Ore expressway which was in a dreadful state with her helmet and workman's clothes. Little did we know that the moment she sat to rest on the hot seat she would rest all through and leave the work undone as predecessors had done. Then why should she remain in that position?
An old friend made his own input by saying that Madueke's excuse is a laughable attempt to trivialise an important international event from which Nigeria is insulated on account of the dim-witted people that take turning to plunder it.
The irony behind the issue of roads in Nigeria is that much has being spent and little or nothing is achieved.
The state of the roads is very obvious. In trying to achieve the targets of the MDGs, NEEDs, the Seven-Point Agenda and Vision 2020, it should be understood clearly that the roads are included in attaining these goals. Whatever sector is responsible should stand up and be alive to its duties.
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