The recent admission by the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency that most of Nigeria’s roads have expired or exceeded their lifespan calls for concern and urgent remedial action. FERMA’s Managing Director, Nuruddeen Rafindadi, who spoke at the 10th public lecture and presentation of awards organised by the Nigerian Society of Engineers in Kaduna, explained that most Nigerian roads which were built to last for between 10 and 25 years, are still in use with little or no maintenance. This is a challenge for the federal, states and local governments to accord urgent priority to regular maintenance, upgrading of existing roads and the construction of new ones.
The terrible condition of Nigeria’s highways and the road network deficit reflect the overall prevalence of decay, stunted development and poor governance in the country.
Roads however make crucial contributions to economic development and growth and bring important social benefits. They are, according to the World Bank, “the arteries through which the economy pulses.” In addition to providing access to employment, social, health and education services, a road network is crucial in fighting against poverty as it opens up more areas and stimulates economic and social development. For these reasons, road infrastructure is considered the most important of all public assets, according to World Highways.
Nigeria currently has about 202,000 kilometres of roads with the Federal Government responsible for 35,000km; the states, 50,000km, and the local governments, 117,000km feeder roads, according to the Road Sector Development Team, a unit of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. Most federal roads were built during the military era and in the early years after Nigeria’s independence; as such they are aged, ridden with potholes and in a general state of disrepair. Where repairs are undertaken, they are sloppily done, and the roads and structures are soon swept away or damaged.
Alarmingly, the critical inter-state link roads considered very important for commerce are also dilapidated. They include the Enugu-Onitsha Road; Odukpani-Itu Road; Oyo-Ogbomoso-Ilorin Road; Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa Road; Benin-Sapele-Warri Road; Enugu-Port Harcourt Road, and Benin-Auchi-Okene Road. They have become death traps and favourite spots for criminals who exploit the failed sections to rob, kill or kidnap commuters and motorists.
According to the Federal Road Safety Corps, 5,483 persons died in road crashes in 2019, and 5,574 in 2020, partly due to bad roads. Another 6,205 persons died in 2021. Such tragic waste should not continue.
Arguably, sub-Saharan Africa’s busiest highway, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which contracts for the current phase of its rehabilitation were awarded in 2013, remains uncompleted. The gateway to the commercial capital of the country and an economic conveyor belt, the unending rehabilitation of this important road is a clear evidence of the poor commitment to infrastructure development by successive administrations. Urgent, long term reconstruction plans and financing should be put in place to repair all deteriorated roads.
Not only do roads link producers with markets, they are also crucial to the development agenda of any country, says the World Bank. Emphasising this, the European Road Federation, a non-profit, in a manifesto on road asset management published in 2013, places maintenance and modernisation at the heart of road infrastructure. It is therefore imperative that the federal and state authorities embark immediately on the reconstruction and rehabilitation of highways.
This requires greater commitment and funding. The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said the government owed highway contractors N10.4 trillion, admitting that, “the main challenge to highways development in the country remains inadequate funding.” He added that a total of about N765 billion in unpaid certificates for executed works remained outstanding. This demonstrates laxity by the government and the National Assembly that approves public expenditure and exercises oversight on the Executive branch.
Insufficient budgetary allocations greatly contribute to the delay in completing road construction and rehabilitation projects across the country. Sadly, even when funds are made available, little progress is seen in road rehabilitation or new construction projects. Notably, Nigerians are incensed at the interminably slow pace of work on the Lagos-Ibadan, Kano-Kaduna-Abuja highways, and the Second Niger Bridge despite the dedication of $311 million of returned stolen funds for their completion.
To bridge the widening road infrastructure gap, the Federal Government is shopping for $1.5 trillion over 10 years to implement the National Infrastructure Stock plan.
To this end, it has explored various alternatives to bridge the financing gap, including the Sukuk Bond to rehabilitate and construct 25 road projects across the six geopolitical zones, and a second bond to finance 28 roads. A Presidential Executive Order in 2019 titled, ‘Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme’, enables big corporations to participate in road construction. Currently, 19 road projects measuring 794.4km are being rehabilitated by the companies under the scheme.
But this is a drop in the ocean in view of the level of road dilapidation in the country. China’s spending on major highways reached 702.6 billion yuan, up by 12 per cent in 2018, a stimulus benefiting the world’s second-largest economy. China has been building highways at an amazing pace. Since 1988, when the country’s first expressway–the Shanghai-Jiading Expressway–was completed, it has built over 160,000km of expressways, the most of any country in the world.
Last year, United States President, Joe Biden, signed a $1 trillion infrastructure plan into law, unlocking funds for road infrastructure, broadband and other vital projects. India has been building between 23km and 42km of roads daily for some years.
Nigeria should also think big and raise funds for road development and maintenance. The Public-Private Partnership option should be deepened; it has been successfully used for infrastructure development in other countries.
Focusing on road maintenance will bring widespread benefits by preserving current assets, and lowering future costs for citizens, road users, taxpayers and road owners. The states and LGs should also invest heavily in building new roads and maintaining existing ones.
