John Adams, Minna
According to world economic indices, road makes a critical contribution to economic development and growth of any nation. It also brings about important social benefits.
With over 200,000 kilometres of road length in Nigeria, it is said to be the largest road network in West Africa and second largest in South Sahara.
Indeed, it has been estimated that the nation loses about N3trillion annually in asset value due to poor road conditions. Such a huge loss is, no doubt, detrimental to the country’s developmental aspirations.
Out of the total road length nationwide, about 35,000 kilometres are federal highways, 50,000 kilometres are state roads and 150,000 kilometres local government feeder roads. The horrifying state of these roads has become a national shame because they have deteriorated to such an inhuman level, putting people’s lives and livelihood in jeopardy and creating gridlocks all over.
In Niger State for example, agony, pains and frustration are the right words to describe the experiences of motorists and commuters plying major roads, especially the Minna-Suleja and other major highways with no respite coming their way. Although these roads have remained death traps due to long period of neglect by successive governments both at the state and the federal levels, the heavy down poor this year has further worsened their condition.
Worst hit is the ever-busy Minna-Suleja Road, now the only alternative route from the North to the South with its attendant daily carnage. The 98-kilometre road is the only route that connects Minna, the state capital with Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It remains one of the busiest highways with over 500 vehicles plying it daily. It is among the numerous roads that have claimed many lives and property worth hundreds of millions of naira lost to different incidents in recent time.
Available statistics from the state command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), indicated that between January and September this year, no fewer than 147 people were killed in 361 road traffic crashes. The command said out of this figure, 74 were fatal, 265 serious and 22 minor, 915 people were injured and 147 killed:
“The number of road safety crashes in the first nine months of the year is almost exceeding the number of road traffic crashes in the entire 2018. Eighty five per cent of the crashes were due to the deplorable condition of these roads. In 2018, 479 road traffic crashes occurred out of which 115 were fatal accidents, 326 serious, 40 were minor, 1,256 were injured while 191 were killed.” The corps blamed over speeding and the terrible state of these roads, especially the Suleja-Minna highway for most of the clashes.
The deplorable condition of this road is now a nightmare to motorists. It has continued to make life miserable and rendering movement of goods almost impossible with economic activities at its lowest ebbs. The situation is made worst following the activities of trailers, tankers, trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles that abandoned other roads due to their terrible condition. They now concentrate in using the Bida-Minna-Suleja Road as an alternative route.
The occurrence of accident on the road is a common sight. Only last week, a tanker loaded with over 40,000 litres of fuel lost control, fell and exploded at the ever-crowded Dikko junction, along the Dikko-Suleja-Minna highway. It left six persons dead, 19 others injured, 19 cars burnt and over 35 shops razed. Governor Abubakar Sani-Bello described it as a monumental disaster in recent times.
The accident came barely three months after a similar one involving another fuel tanker which capsised at Maje junction in Suleja, leaving five people dead and over 50 houses, mostly on the roadside razed.
Very pathetic among the casualties recorded on the road this year was a family of five who were returning to their base in Abuja after a wedding ceremony of an extended family member in Minna who were all perished in an accident. Their vehicle had head-on-collision with a commercial vehicle that was trying to avoid a pothole.
Also, a multiple accident involving three vehicles on the same Minna-Suleja Road claimed lives of six people, three of them staff of the National Examination Council (NECO). They were returning from the marking exercise of the June/July SSCE examination in Kano. The number of carnage on this road is uncountable. No week passes without one casualty or the other. The Minna-Suleja Road was reconstructed about 25 years ago
Niger State has the longest federal roads covering about 1,437 kilometres, spreading across 15 out of the 25 local government areas of the state. Out of this, 1,115 kilometres, representing about 80 per cent of this trunk ‘A’ roads in the state are in deplorable conditions.
They are Jebba-Mokwa-Bokani-Tegina-Kagara, connecting Birin Gwari-Kaduna highway; the Rijau Road through Zuru in Kebbi State; the Katcha–Baro-Agaie–Lapai-Lambata-Suleja and Rofia-Swete-Segema roads. Others included the Wawa-Kaima; Auna-New Bussa; Sarkin Pawa-Kaduna section and the Pandogari Gurmana-Allawa roads.
The bad conditions of the roads, in addition to having negative impact on the economic lives of the people, armed robbers and kidnappers have continued to use the bad spots to rob and kidnap innocent Nigerians traveling on these roads. Three weeks ago, 20 suspected armed robbers held motorists traveling on the Mokwa-Tegina-Makera-Kaduna highway hostage for several hours.
The immediate past administration of Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu obtained a N21billion bond from the capital market in 2009 to address some of these roads. While the administration made an attempt to fix some roads, no attention was given to the federal roads until the former president Goidluck Jonathan administration came to the rescue in 2013.
The Bida-Mokwa highway was the only federal road that received the Federal Government attention in the last 20 years with the award of N9billion contract for its reconstruction. It remains the only motorable federal highway in the state. This brought relief to motorists while the economic activities peaked. Since Jonathan’s intervention in 2013, the highway left unattended to by successive administrations has claimed over 300 lives in accidents.
While the Bida-Mokwa road received government attention, the Minna-Suleja Road and other federal roads were not that lucky. During the 2015 presidential campaign, Jonathan announced the award of contract to dualise the highway at the initial cost of N4.7billion for the first phase.
The ovation that greeted this announcement was short lived because as soon as the election was over without victory for the then president, the contractor abandoned the project due to lack of payment.
President Muhammadu Buhari revisited the road contract in 2017. He mobilised the contractor to site and awarded the second phase of the road. Ever since then no significant achievements has been recorded despite additional funding from the Sukuk bond. The road is a shadow of its past, causing nightmares for its users.
Recently, Sani-Bello decided went on an inspection tour of the road. He got stuck few kilometres from Minna in the gridlock that swallowed his convoy. The governor was forced to make a retreat and took another route to Abuja. He lamented that despite his administration expending over N2billion on the road, it has collapsed. He attributed the situation to the sudden influx of heavy-duty trailers and trucks:
“We need the public to understand our predicament of paucity of funds. However, we are determined to seek possible ways of managing the situation until the rains recede when work will start on the complete overhaul of the road.” He said in the interim, government would continue to work on the failed portions of Minna-Suleja and Minna-Bida roads:
“Even though most of the federal roads in the state are in a deplorable conditions having been constructed some 35 years ago and have outlived their live span and perhaps palliative maintenance, the state government will continue to make sure that the roads are usable. We have also given directives to the appropriate agencies to ensure strict compliance of tonnage of heavy duty vehicles plying our roads.”
The governor lamented to the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatude Fashola, that the road was beyond the scope of the state in terms of financial implication: “The over 30-kilometre Agaie-Katcha-Baro Road which cost the Federal Government about N17.5 billion was awarded in January 2015 and was expected to be completed by January 16, 2016. The road has been abandoned and neglected. We want the Federal Government to put its roads in Niger State in good condition because presently, no federal road is motorable in the state.”
“Although the Controller of Federal Roads in the state was not available for comment on this issue, our correspondent, some of the contractors that spoke to our correspondent off camera regretted that non-release of funds had stalled most roads projects not only in Niger state but across the country, stressing that “It is therefore expedient for the federal government to pay deserved attention to funding road projects even in the face of paucity of funds”.