Monday, June 18, 2012
NIGERIAN ROAD IN A STATE OF DISREPAIR
Almost every road statistics in Nigeria hardly deviates from the
fact that our roads are heavily pot-holed and recklessly punctured in a
state of disrepair .To be precise , 85 percent of Nigerian roads are
in a bad condition according to statistics by Rural road access and
mobility project [RAMP].
That
only slightly above 16,000 sq.km. of secondary and tertiary roads in
the country were motorable . The local government roads were the worst
hit about 70 percent of these roads were impassable .Unfortunately 70
percent of Nigerians lived in the rural areas .
Out of over 160,000sq.km. of secondary and tertiary roads in the country with an average registered network of 4,000km.
per
state ,only 10 to 15percent is paved .And a large portion of this
mess remains in the rural areas which are in a very bad condition with
only 15 percent of federal roads in good condition.It is sad that these
roads which constitute about 67.7 percent or 132 ,000km. of the entire
road networks in the country which ought to have received emergency
attention long long ago continue to stall economic growth but none so
far has been repaired or status upgraded over a dozen years of
democratic dispensation. Even in Lagos the supposed center of
excellence over 60 percent of the roads are in bad state yet patching
of roads goes on, on a daily basis .
Farmers faced excruciating pains of shouldering economic growth alone subsiding the nation with their agony and sweat .
The
challenges of protracted or long travel time ,increasing rate of motor
accidents ,perishability of crops ,growth rate of starvation and
hunger due to impassable access roads are some of the consequences of
bad roads in the country ..More than 20 percent of the agricultural
production never reach end users and half of farmers outputs are
destroyed annually in the process due to lack of infrastructure like
lack of storage facilities and bad roads .
How come close to
500billion naira are spent every year on these roads yet their
deplorable condition and status remained unchanged ? Th routine cost and
periodic maintenance for the road network is put at 2billon dollars
per annum .The question is not about the money -a mere fiduciary
resource but the opacity involved -a condition that has incessantly
retarded the sanity needed in fund management and funds being daily
disbursed for the purpose of turn around project.We earnestly desire
and clamor for change but when will this change come ?
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