Nigeria’s road network is one of the biggest victims of this over-centralisation of power

By Ayo Akinfe

(1) This is Aba. The filthiest and worst planned city in Nigeria. It has grown and expanded without a masterplan, effectively making it Nigeria’s largest ghetto. It ranks alongside the Gaza Strip as a place of human misery

(2) Whenever it rains, Aba becomes an aquatic city, with roads impassable, drains blocked, gutters overflowing and homes and businesses flooded. Many buildings are erected where there should be gutters and drainage systems, making the problem perennial and chronic

(3) My personal solution to what I call the Aba Crisis would be to build a purpose-built city in somewhere like Obehie or Oke-Ikpe in southern Abia State and relocate the people. I would then demolish Aba and build a modern city in its place. This is what happened in London’s Docklands. During World War Two, the Isle of Dogs was bombed into oblivion. It took Margaret Thatcher to rebuild the area with Canary Wharf being the jewel in the crown

(4) Aba’s problems are not just restricted to the city centre. Connecting roads linking it with other cities are in an unbelievable state. Anyone who has been on the Aba-Ikot Ekpene Road will think they are travelling through the Congolese or Amazon jungles. Given that Aba is a commercial city, this will eventually lead to its ruin as it needs access to markets

(5) One of the reasons why many of these roads across Nigeria are in such a terrible state is because our governors are waiting for the federal government to come and fix them. They claim they are “federal roads” and as such want Abuja to come and do their jobs for them. I find this totally unacceptable, as a state governor, it is solely your responsibility to fix the roads in your state

(6) All the federal government should be involved in is the construction of inter-city motorways. Once they are built, maintenance, upgrading, dualisation, etc, should be the sole responsibility of state governors

(7) In the past, state governors have repaired so-called federal roads and asked for refunds. However, we now know that this has been a conduit for corruption. These states are billing the federal government about three times the amounts paid out, so President Buhari has rightly stopped honouring such payments

(8) I am at a loss as to why a state cannot generate the revenue it needs to maintain its roads. How the hell did this become a “federal matter” for heaven’s sake?

(9) If anything, our federal ministries of transport and works should focus their energy and resources on rail and seaports. Roads should eventually come off the list of federal government responsibilities

(10) Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, please get off your lazy backside and sort out Aba’s roads. It is parasitic in the extreme for you to expect the federal government to use Nigeria’s oil wealth to develop the infrastructure in your state. Only lazy governors think that way