HAUNTED by their shabby condition, the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) is pressing ahead with a plan to concession some major highways to private sector operators, who will charge tolls to recoup their investment. The ‘Highway Development and Management Initiative’, a public-private partnership scheme, is set to take off soon and targets 12 routes with a combined length of 1,963 kilometres or 5.6 percent of the 35,000km of the federal highway stock in the first phase. All things considered, this is a lazy and insensitive option.

The HDMI, packaged by the Federal Ministry of Works under Babatunde Fashola, aims to rehabilitate, maintain, patrol and toll 12 “economically viable highways,” including the Benin-Asaba, Abuja-Lokoja, Kano-Katsina, Onitsha-Owerri-Aba, Sagamu-Benin, Kano-Maiduguri and Enugu-Port Harcourt. These are existing highways that are currently not tolled. Critical as they are, they have suffered perennial neglect. Being in various stages of disrepair, they inhibit travel, tourism, commerce, and socioeconomic development. To reverse this, the scheme was incubated in March 2021. Seventy-five companies applied but the ministry pre-qualified 18.

However, the scheme essentially defeats the raison d’être of government, one of which is to provide social infrastructure without inflicting hardship on the people. In Nigeria, good roads are almost non-existent. Where they exist, their condition is shameful, depicting the woeful governance in Africa’s largest economy.

The PUNCH remains steadfast in its opposition to tolling existing roads where users are currently not paying tolls. The involvement of the private sector in providing infrastructure is highly desirable and welcome, but tolls should apply only to new highways. Tolling old highways depicts government’s misunderstanding of reality and disregard for the people and their livelihood. After dismantling tolling on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and others, many factories, business organisations, private residences, and estates have been built all along the routes without the investors factoring in tolling costs. It is therefore bad economics to suddenly reintroduce the same. It upturns corporate plans, adding to costs and possible downsizing.

Undoubtedly, Nigeria’s road stock deficit is grave. Of its 200,000km road network, 135,000km or 67.5 percent is untarred, says the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission. Of this, the 36 states log 32,000km, the federal 35,000km and the 774 local government areas 132,000km. Of the share for the states and LGAs, only 15 percent is drivable, a World Bank report said.

Buhari said in 2021 that Nigeria required $1.5 trillion over 10 years to fix its infrastructure deficit. That translates to $150 billion annually, or about four times the size of the country’s annual budget.

There are several weak spots. Apart from the paucity of funding and insecurity in parts of the country, successive governments fail to perform. Often, some constructed roads fail just after completion. Bridges collapse on some.

Construction takes till eternity. The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway rehabilitation began during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 2004. Nearly 20 years on and four presidents later, the 127km highway rehab has not been completed. In the same trap are the Second Niger Bridge, the Sagamu-Benin Expressway, the Ibadan-Oyo-Ilorin Expressway, the East-West Road, the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, and others.

This means government in Nigeria falls short of its basic responsibility because it cannot build and maintain critical national assets. It makes the argument for tolling existing roads tenuous and dubious.

Tolling was cancelled under Obasanjo because it was riddled with corruption. To generate income for road maintenance, tolling was replaced with a five percent user charge on the pump price of petrol, diesel and international vehicle transit charges as stipulated in the Federal Emergency Road Management Agency Act, part of which is to be given to states for road maintenance. Like most other noble laws, however, its implementation has been lax. In December, a Senate committee said that the government had inexcusably failed to remit N850 billion due to FERMA from the tax.

As such, FERMA has struggled vainly to maintain the federal highways. The agency says it receives a capital vote of N35 billion to N40 billion annually, but needs N250 billion a year to “to keep the Nigerian federal highway network in manageable condition.” Not surprisingly, most federal roads are in a shambles, taking a toll on vehicle owners via high maintenance costs. Criminals take advantage of the bad roads to kidnap and rob commuters; and travelling on them takes much longer than necessary.

Yet, infrastructure is No. 9 on the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Goals’ list. “Access to basic infrastructure services is critical for creating economic opportunities and bringing social services to the poor,” the bank says. Road infrastructure provision is top priority in India. Remarkably, its National Highways Authority constructed 37km of national highways daily across the country in the 2020/21 cycle, and targets 50km per day in the current season. The aim is to reduce logistics costs to the Indian economy that currently stands at 16 percent, compared to China (12 percent), the United States (112 percent); and Europe (10 percent).

For Nigeria to achieve similar noble goals, the excuses and delays on road rehabilitation must stop. It takes too long for projects to mature. The cost of projects is also too high compared to other countries.

The citizens, though affected negatively, do not take the governments at the federal, state and local governments to task. Citizens and civil society organisations need to be more critical and alert. When any government makes a promise, they must insist that the timeline is strictly adhered to.

Ultimately, the Nigerian government should implement new solutions to raise funds for infrastructure. Only new roads, like the Second Niger Bridge, should be tolled. The tax on petrol is the best option to raise maintenance funds. Existing roads should be free of such encumbrance. The United Kingdom imposes an annual levy and fuel duty on Heavy Goods Vehicles using, or parked on its roads; the £4.4 billion realised in 2015-2016 provided 94 percent of public spending on road maintenance.

The government should also privatise its moribund assets to generate income for infrastructure. Where new roads are tolled, the government must provide viable alternatives for road users. The decision to toll the 12 roads should be rescinded.

Update news