THE NEGLECTED FEDERAL HIGHWAYS

Government should provide the people with well-maintained road networks In another cycle of emergency intervention, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) last Friday flag-off the reconstruction of the failed sections of the 15.4 kilometres Sapele-Benin Expressway. It is an intervention expected to bring some relief to the long-suffering people, residents and businesses along the critical corridor linking the South-South with other parts of the country. The NDDC managing director, Samuel Ogbuku, apologised to residents, community leaders, and commuters for the prolonged hardship caused by the deplorable condition of the road. Another representative on the board pleaded that the intervention be extended to Amukpe-Abraka-Agbor Road and the Sapele-Warri Road because of their severe degradation. The palliative measure is prompted by the agony and horror passengers and other road users were recently subjected to along the Benin-Asaba road. The Benin-bypass leads to many destinations – the South-East, Delta and Abuja. As a result of the gridlock arising from bad roads, many motorists were stranded for hours, some for days, to get to their destinations. For instance, travellers spent eight hours to get to Warri, a journey of 50 minutes. Even worse, some others spent three dreary days to commute from Benin to Asaba, a journey of less than two hours. Passengers slept in buses with their children, and many hungry commuters seeking food and water converted Agbor to a temporary night market. The scale of the problem attracted the attention of the Works Minister David Umahi who arrived at the troubled sections full of apologies. The concessionaire awarded the Benin-Asaba project since 2025, ironically has left the highway in worse state than he met it. Senator Adams Oshiomhole had earlier accused the Minister of deliberately neglecting the roads in Edo and Delta States because of their poor condition over the years. “We are the goose that lays the golden egg, but that goose has almost been starved,” said the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) chairman, Godknows Igali. “We only demand, and rightly so, to be treated with fairness and equity. It is becoming almost impossible to connect within the South-South.” But the Asaba-Benin Road is not an isolated case. Driving on Nigeria’s approximately 200,183 kilometres road network can be risky and dangerous as large swathes have broken down, ridden with craters and potholes. Last week, commuters and residents plying the 9th Mile-Obollo Affor-Makurdi highway and the Eha-Nkalagu road bemoaned the deplorable condition of the routes, saying the abandoned roads are daily exposing them to kidnapping, vehicle breakdown and dust pollution. Besides, major roads such as the Benin-Auchi Highway, Port Harcourt-Aba-Enugu, Ikot Ekpene-Umuahia and Calabar-Itu-Uyo, and many others are crying for attention. The systemic neglect of many federal roads has prompted many Nigerians to question the skewed attention to the Coastal Road as well as the Badagry – Sokoto highway being constructed at great expense. In as much as we appreciate their importance, they should not be done to the detriment of existing roads. The huge costs of neglected roads on the people in delays, in frightening road accidents, and loss of productive hours are becoming increasingly unbearable. On a daily basis several lives are lost due to the poor state of many roads. The socio-economic toll on the country’s economy is also massive. Many farmers cannot take their produce to markets in a timely manner. Indeed, some billions of naira are lost annually from goods and services that perish in road accidents. The high cost of transport, partly enabled by terrible roads, has also made many highways less travelled because they are breeding grounds for insecurity. Criminals use failed portions of the roads to commit all kinds of havoc on commuters. But these recurring tragedies and mounting problems on the roads can be reduced by prompt inexpensive remedial interventions.