19 November 2009
editorial
There could not have been a better way for Minister of Works, Housing and Urban Development, Alhaji Hassan Lawal and Ondo State governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, to experience what millions of Nigerians pass through daily than their recent trapping, for hours, in a traffic jam on the Benin-Ore Expressway.
Lawal and Mimiko's convoy was reportedly stuck for hours on the notorious expressway, thus forcing them to alight from their vehicles to join in restoring normalcy, albeit, temporarily, on the road.
To Mimiko and perhaps Lawal, that was a 'bitter experience,' but to millions of Nigerians who look up to their leaders for provision of basic necessities of life, good road network inclusive, such ordeal has become a daily grind.
And while Lawal, as a result, apologised to Nigerians on the poor state of roads, saying the nightmare would soon be over, Mimiko sympathised with those stuck in traffic jams caused mostly by bad roads.
The Lawal/Mimiko episode will not be the first time those whose sole duty it is to fix that road would put up a public show of concern, thus playing politics with a very serious national issue.
Just as another Christmas season approaches, the Ore-Benin Expressway, one of the nation's busiest highways and the only connection between the West and East, remains in a sorry state.
Lawal and Mimiko were trapped there for just three hours, and in full protection of a retinue of security men, but most people who often ply that road end up sleeping there, and at the mercy of men of the underworld who capitalize on their predicament to unleash terror on them.
For a road built about 30 years ago, what Nigerians are reaping on the Sagamu-Benin road is, no doubt, reward for official tardiness. Government has repeatedly talked so much about that road but with nothing to show for it.
Successive Works Ministers, including Chief Tony Anenih and Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe were all heard loudly boasting on how they would fix the nation's roads, among them the now terribly broken Ore-Benin Expressway.
But it was Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, who as Minister of Transportation at the inception of the Musa Yar'Adua administration that reportedly wept when she visited and saw the deplorable condition of that expressway.
If the emotion displayed by Mrs. Allison-Madueke then was anything to go by, she will most likely faint at the level of decay today, if per chance she finds herself there again. Despite the huge amount of money allegedly spent on the road, travelling through it is like taking a journey to hell, and indeed, not a few have lived to tell of their horrible experience. Some others have been left in a state of permanent disability.
Although the Federal Government, apparently reacting to mounting public complaints over the deplorable state of that road, recently awarded contracts to the tune of N12.2 billion for reconstruction and rehabilitation of two of its sections, Nigerians are no longer deceived by what many now see as the recurring pranks periodically played on them by their own government.
Considering that the year is almost coming to an end, which means that in just a matter of weeks, traffic on that road will even be heavier, Nigerians are not convinced of government's sincerity in the award of that contract at this period.
It is indeed, a shame that government is taking on this issue at this time, which means that if at all any work is done or seen to be done on that road from now till the end of the year, it would be a job done in a hurry.
Any serious government would have planned for this kind of project in good time. But it appears our leaders are not used to long or even medium term plans, as the problem of the Lagos-Sagamu-Ore- Benin Expressway would seem to suggest.
Regrettably, road maintenance culture in the country has been so poor as to guarantee sustainable good road conditions. Slight breakages of the roads are not promptly attended to until they become unmanageable.
Most of the roads across the six geopolitical zones of the country have suffered serial neglect and callous abandonment that have now turned them into death traps. We note, however, that had state governments been doing their part of rehabilitating road networks in their various states, federal roads, perhaps, may not have degenerated to the appalling states they presently are in.
The lack of definite framework for road building and maintenance merely confirms the fact that both the present and previous governments in the country lack focus and have continuously planned to fail the people.
What Nigerians need are proactive leaders; leaders that will build roads and at the same time provide alternatives by way of developing other means of transportation - especially rail and water.
The kind of 'display' recently put up by Lawal and Mimiko on the Ore-Benin Expressway, we emphasise, is not what we should be talking about at this point in the nation's history. Nigerians are sick and tired of watching spectacles of leaders, who ensure that media men are in tow to capture their well rehearsed acts of deceit.
Our roads are in a very poor state and what they need most is to be fixed. Enough of this charade!
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
