We don’t build roads here

“This is Nigeria; we don’t build roads well here. Township roads, inner city roads, intercity roads, federal roads, state roads, trunk A roads, trunk B roads, trunk C roads, non-trunk roads, most of our roads – all kinds of roads – they are bad. Trunk or trunkless roads… That is my submission. It is the same thing nearly everywhere I’ve been to. Only a few towns and cities have a semblance of good motorways and in such places, they are in the major city centres whereas the dilapidation in the hinterland is better imagined.

“I don’t usually drive to towns and cities anymore. When I travel nowadays, I almost always go by public transport. Driving in Nigeria is both not enjoyable and risky. The pleasure is dead. You know, while you don’t enjoy the ride because of bad roads, you also face the risk of being kidnapped, or of being killed by criminals. There is also the risk of extortion and mental abuse or torture by security agents, who are found at the bad spots on the roads. That’s my observation. That’s my summary.”

The submission above changed the course of a persuasive conversation I was having with some of my nephews recently. Some of my cousins and nephews have been looking forward to visiting me in Ibadan for “even if for nothing, let’s see and catch up”. Through the conversation initiated by one of them, we were foraging for a time that would be most auspicious, which would also be convenient for most of us. During the conversation, all of us, including those among them who are living outside of the country had poured out our minds on various issues as they concern us. Some of them have formed opinions based on what they have read about our country compared to what those who were not born there knew before they left Nigeria. The enthusiasm in two nephews in England, who had travelled there as five and seven year-olds in 2005, was heartwarming. The joyous atmosphere and the hope of seeing my nephews around was dampened by ‘Bueze with his thoughts. He lives and works here in Nigeria like me made. He made the statement quoted above.

‘Bueze’s comments turned off many things – the enthusiasm, the expectations, the hope. He was frank and uncensored. He wouldn’t believe there’s anything like a remedy soon until something different happens to how we are as Nigerians. Even with his intermittent ‘with due respect’, he was difficult to persuade. He knew that he had ruined my plans to host my nephews, but I asked myself, is he wrong? “With due respect, was he wrong? I think it’s better we bring ourselves to understand that these our boys of yesterday are now men in their rights.” That was how my wife made inroad in reducing the strain on the conversation. It was like “end of discussion” statement. ‘Bueze has maintained that his submission was “not to change anything about a reunion or a bubbly Yuletide season. “But we must let these guys overseas know that we hardly have or observe standards here. I repeat: Anything goes. Let’s say my roads statement is a metaphor. De, look around you, is the country on the right path?” I tried to narrow the argument and asked that he looks at specifics. He wouldn’t. He has lost faith. He see thinks and sees things differently.

Nigerians below the age of 40 often have something around this thought in their minds. Those of them still studying in institutions of higher learning see a lot of things when they travel round the country. The condition of our roads is real and vivid. No one needs any kind of suasion to help them in forming their opinions about the roads. They travel around Nigeria and, in truth the experience could both be a nightmare and a bad dream. Some of us who could travel without the fear of being kidnapped or killed by violent criminals, and who saw some of the roads in their prime, might not now know how much it meant. As a member of the Kegites Club Nigeria, University of Ibadan, we travelled a lot in the evenings and arrived at gyration grounds at night. I doubt if this kind of movement still happens.

Apart from the bad roads, these youngsters see our security agents in action as they ply the roads. A recent journey to Benin City through the highway from Lagos gave some credence to some of these sentiments. The most prominent of the complaints was the multiplicity of checkpoints on the road towards Benin. There’s a security check at intervals of about one kilometer and this not only created traffic jams, it also made driving cumbersome. Apart from these, the multiple security blockades, most of which are for the same reasons, showed that majority of the checks on the road were to find faults through which the security agents find avenues to extort motorists. It doesn’t speak well of the country and the young people are taking notes.

If there were standards, why have we refused to follow and stick to them? Why do we have so much chaos in everyday Nigerian life? What we have today is not what the founders of Nigeria envisaged. Motorists act without consideration and motorcyclists ride with unbelievable impunity. Crime has caused the banning of commercial motorcycling in many states of Nigeria and this has changed the course of the economy of such states. Standards had not instituted, there wouldn’t have been so much urban slums in the country today. Among other reasons, urban slums are some of the reasons the government is finding it impossible to help those that have been submerged by the recent floods in some states of the country.

There are reasons to argue that we don’t encourage our younger generation enough. In many ways, Nigeria has abandoned the quest to lay a solid foundation. This has been slaughtered as tribal and sentimental sacrificial lambs. In numerous ways, mediocrity and impunity have become the order of the day thereby making the young to think that there is no reason to have faith in Nigeria.

On more than two occasions, transporters, truck drivers, haulage personnel and sundry workers in that sector of the Nigerian economy had taken to the streets to protest bad roads. This has remained one of the most nagging problems for these Nigerians. The last reported of such protests took place only yesterday in Edo State. Truck drivers, who cannot take it anymore, decided to take their case to the streets to be able to get the necessary attention. Their grievance? Bad roads. If we had standards, state governments especially will not be reconstructing and rehabilitating the same roads nearly every year.

We should, through the quality of our roads, mirror the quality of our national life. As concerned Nigerians, we should genuinely deprecate the ills that are now institutional in our country.

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