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The presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has decried the state of Nigeria’s existing roads, saying Nigerians do not need new projects “just for the headlines” but functional infrastructure that improves lives and livelihoods.
In an X post on Monday, Obi said he has “consistently continued to respectfully appeal to those in office today to prioritise reconstruction and maintenance of existing roads and other infrastructure over commencing new ones.”
He cited a personal example to illustrate the scale of the problem.
Obi said, “I left someone in Onitsha on Saturday night to take the first bus to Lagos on Sunday morning. Until I left Lagos at 8 pm yesterday, he had not arrived in Lagos. He only arrived in Lagos at about 2 pm today. A journey that usually takes a maximum of 8 hours now takes nearly two days.”
According to the former Anambra governor, the situation goes beyond bad roads.
“It is about lost man-hours, stranded passengers sleeping on highways, wasted fuel, damaged vehicles, delayed goods, and businesses losing millions of naira,” he said.
He argued that government should focus on impact rather than project size.
“Nigerians do not need new projects just for the headlines. We need functional roads that make life and economic activity possible.
“A government must understand that infrastructure is not necessarily about the size of the project; it is about the number of lives and livelihoods it improves,” he said.
