Nationwide bad roads: Motorists, passengers face grave risk, by Harry Awurumibe
Travelling by road across Nigeria has now become more dangerous than by any known means of transportation due to the bad state of the roads.
With almost all the inter-state Federal Highways from the East to West, North and South of Nigeria presently in deplorable conditions and some of them completely impassable, commuters now spend longer hours on the road because of the bad roads.No part of Nigeria is immune to the failed Federal Government roads especially the Abuja- Lokoja- Ajaokuta- Ejule roads and the ever busy Abuja- Lokoja- Okene- Auchi roads.
Also, Markudi-Obollo Afor-9th Mile- Enugu roads are not better either. Enugu- Port Harcourt Expressway has also bad portions at Okigwe in Imo state, Ohuhu near Umuahia in Abia state among other places in the Eastern flank.
Yet, roads from from Okigwe Expressway through Onuimo to Anara- Isiala Mbano and Akabo- Owerri Imo state have cut off entirely with vehicles passing these axis using farmland roads and foothpaths or village roads to go to Owerri.
Travelling from Lagos to Northern axis is as stressful as working in the coal mine as the Lagos- Ibadan- Ife or Oshogbo-Akure- Ibillo- Okene roads are in very bad condition. The Ibadan- Mokwa- Katongora- Minna-Suleja- Abuja roads are not better either just as the Abuja- Kaduna- Zaria- Katsina roads are death traps with high incidents of kidnapping on the roads.
Roads in the South South region of Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Delta and Edo state roads are facing the same dilapidated road infrastructures.
In fact, road transportation in Nigeria especially by commercial vehicles has gone from nightmare to a pain in the neck as passengers no longer get to their destinations on time while many spend days on the road due to the unnecessary delays caused by bad roads. The untold hardships commuters face on the Federal Highways across the nation have made many Nigerians to doubt where the humongous budgets allocated to Federal Ministry of Works every year for roads.
But the big question is where are the roads the Federal Ministry of Works are either constructing or rehabilitating across the nation if all the roads have become death traps.
Last year alone, the Federal Government voted billions of naira for the Ministry of Works yet the roads are in sorry state from Kaura Namoda to Calabar and from Okigwe to Oshogbo and Badagry.
Truth be told, the roads infrastructure have been neglected by successive Federal Governments from military to civilian hence the total collapse of roads.Indeed, most of the Federal Government roads have outlived their usefulness, they have expired. And for this singular reason there is no amount of repair work on the roads that will last.
Nigeria has very massive roads network running into several thousands of kilometres stretching from the East, West, South and North of the country.
The Executive arm of the Federal Government of Nigeria has again proposed yet another humongous budget allocation to the same 'docile' Federal Ministry of Works when the citizens have not seen the roads delivered by the ministry with the last budgetary allocation.
However, the citizenry especially the poor masses irrespective of religion and ethnic group who use the roads most often must brace for the worst in the face of the shrinking national revenue due to the drop in the sales of Nigeria's crude oil.Harry Awurumibe, is Head, ABUJA BUREAU.
