The terrible state of Nigerian roads in recent times should become a major concern to the Federal Government, not only for the fact that majority of compatriots engage in road travel for business and other purposes, but also due to the nexus between the roads and their livelihood.
Granted, a number of road are fairly motorable, especially the Ore-Benin Expressway, the Benin-Asaba, and Onitsha- Owerri Road. Also the Abuja- Kaduna Road, the Kaduna-Kano and a handful of others in the North.
But scores of the roads around the country have become practically impassable death traps because of their embarrassing state of disrepair, causing, in their wake, loss of man hours, damage to vehicles, loss of lives as well as destruction of badly needed agricultural produce in transit in the excess of billions of naira annually.
If the number of truck loads of foodstuffs stuck in mired roads is anything to go by, one can imagine the magnitude of the loss suffered by peasant farmers who are in dire needs of the anticipated proceed of sale to train their children. In the same vein, for upwards three months now, the quintessential Lagos -Ibadan Expressway has been under repairs – with unprecedented daily gridlock.
Worse still, the repairs have come with the closure of some portions of the road, especially on the Long Bridge, leading to some diversions and attendant loss of man hours, stress and damage on vehicles. Since then, it has been a daily diet of horrible vehicular traffic, running into scores of kilometers, where vehicles snake through several potholes on the road.
Whereas it has been a regular incident of traffic jam on both sections of the road- inward and outward Lagos, the gridlock comes with unprecedented violation of traffic laws as many vehicles, especially commercial ones, drive against the traffic at neck-breaking speed.
Of sad particular interest is that the current repairs of the Long Bridge terminating at the Warewa end of the Lagos-Ibadan Road, has split into two, while Julius Berger nimble at the repairs without any hope of early completion. Atop the bridge, dozens of cars overheat, break down and suffer terrible damage daily, besides the fact that hoodlums and robbers emerge from nowhere to attack vehicle owners, who are forced to crawl in the traffic.
Three weeks ago, it was a sorry situation as motorists and commuters spent more than 72 hours on the road to their various destinations. That was when the monthly Friday and Saturday monthly services of some religious organisations culminated in a three-day gridlock with its attendant human and material losses.
One noteworthy occurrence on the road is the millipede pace of work by the two contractors, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and Reynoids Construction Company who won the contract for the expansion and repairs of the Sagamu-Ibadan end of the busy road. If the justification for the repairs of the bridge is worrisome since it shows no physical evidence of structural deficiency, the manner the contractors nimble at the contract, the observable lackluster disposition are highly contemptuous, indicative of poor commitment.
Besides the fact that potholes have taken over many parts of the road, erosion, occasioned by indiscriminate building pattern, especially at the auditorium end of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, is another major issue. While the church area has no drainage system, a major chunk of companies and private homes adjacent to the church are sitting on a canal area, thereby blocking water flow.
The road comes under great threat of erosion and damage because, typical of many constructions in the whole of the stretch, many fuel stations and companies either build without drainage or divert their drains to the expressway, leading to percolation and gradual deterioration of the road.
After every downpour, the expressway is reduced to a single lane; with attendant grueling traffic outward Lagos, dragging as far as the old toll gate at the Ketu end. While we sympathizes with the government over paucity of funds, it goes without saying that a major cause of the problem is lack of foresight, poor road maintenance culture and failure of relevant government agencies to monitor the roads and carry out periodic repairs.
Whereas every road has a lifespan as done in many advanced economies, Nigerian government official who often travel and are familiar with their maintenance culture, have either failed to cultivate and sustain appropriate maintenance culture, or are constrained by government’s ineptitude. Nigerians have had enough of government’s penchant for buck-passing and frequent allusion to the past as justification for the current state of our roads and other deprivations.
The earlier government commences a clearly defined blueprint for rehabilitating and expanding the roads the better for the nation. In so far as infrastructural development has multiplier effects on all sectors of the economy, the time is now for the disbursement of N350 billion promised the sector. Hopefully, this will grant Nigerians and indeed all road users safe, quick and easy road travel.
