Granted, the present government inherited a shabby road network from the previous administration. But the current condition of many Nigerian roads has become more decrepit. Indeed, major interstate arteries around the country are fast becoming highways of agony, frustration, excruciating delays and broken-down vehicles.
In turn, the government rolls out hollow excuses as suffering mounts for travellers. This has gone on for too long.
Nigeria’s road stock is between 195,000 and 200,000 kilometres, with only 60,000km (30 per cent) of it paved. In this, the Federal Government has around 32,000km to 35,000km; the 36 states own 30,000km to 31,000km. The rest falls to the 774 local government areas.
Successive Nigerian governments often want to shine at the expense of practicality. They usually focus on signature projects that remain either incomplete or completed but not properly maintained.
Today, many federal highways demand immediate attention. One of them is the dilapidated Bida-Lapai Road in Niger State.
Due to the poor condition of this important 70-kilometre road, motorists and truck drivers routinely spend several days stranded in gridlock.
Sadly, drivers reportedly contributed money recently to carry out some emergency repairs on some sections of the road.
The Benin-Agbor-Asaba Road has also become a nightmare. Recently, motorists were reported to have spent up to five days stuck on the road.
In 2025, the Benin-Asaba Expressway Concession Company got the concession to reconstruct it. The expectation was that the highway, projected as a 10-lane highway, would have been completed in September 2027 with toll gates.
But the pace of work is slow and has seriously affected movement along that route. The concessionaire blamed this on rain and heavy traffic.
This excuse is not tenable. There are modern technologies that can be adopted to build roads faster, even during rainfall. India set a Guinness World Record by completing a 75km single-lane road on a national highway in roughly four days and nine hours in June 2022.
Belatedly, the Minister of Works, David Umahi, in his recent on-the-spot assessment of the road, blamed the BAECC for its woeful handling of the project.
According to him, the company lacked the technical knowledge to handle the job and that it manipulated the process to get the contract. This is a disturbing and absolutely disappointing self-indictment.
At what point did Umahi notice that the company manipulated the process to get the job? Why didn’t the government carry out due diligence on the concessionaire’s competence?
In Nigeria, it is difficult to move from one state to another without encountering terribly bad roads.
Deep potholes, frequent accidents, loss of life and property, vehicle breakdowns, and heavy gridlock characterise these roads.
The situation is a recipe for economic disaster. Transporters, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and many others lose billions of naira when trucks overturn or get stuck on these roads for days.
Besides, businesses are hampered, transport fares are increased, and factories are shut down. This state of affairs will never attract investors.
To be fair to the current government, some roads are being rehabilitated or reconstructed.
More than 80 federal highways are said to be under active construction or dualisation across the country. They include the Ibadan-Ife-Ilesa Highway and the Sagamu-Benin Expressway.
The Federal Government also spent N6.47 trillion on infrastructure between June 2023 and December 2025. The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project reportedly received the highest allocation of N2.23 trillion.
It is a travesty to abandon the existing dilapidated roads for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. The idea of the coastal highway is not bad. But it would have made more sense to have the Lagos-Calabar railway as an alternative or to build both simultaneously.
Railways should be the primary mode of long-distance travel. That is what is obtainable in many countries, including the United States, Canada, and Europe.
The first transcontinental railroad opened the US to prosperity. This engineering feat led to a boom in trade such that by 1880, the railroad was moving freight worth $50 million every year.
The National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan estimates that Nigeria needs about $3 trillion to bridge the overall infrastructure deficit over a 30-year-period. With the way things are going, it will be difficult to realise this.
At least, efforts should be accelerated to fix critical roads in record time. The Federal Road Maintenance Agency should wake up from its slumber.
Umahi should continue with his policy of replacing asphalt with concrete. It is good.
Nigerian roads need to be re-planned. Some were built in the 1970s. The government needs to take substantial load off the roads by fixing the rail system.
States should build inner roads to ease traffic on major roads. The country needs to get its priorities right. All it needs is the political will to do the right thing.
