Following frequent accidents on major federal highways in the country that often result in loss of lives and property, as a result of their dilapidated state, Nigerians have called on the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration to make good its promise of constructing durable roads.

The calls were specifically made against the backdrop of the October 1, 2023 accident at Koko Junction along the Benin-Sapele-Warri highway that claimed several lives. The accident occurred when a tanker loaded with petrol fell while meandering through a deplorable portion between Ologbo in Edo State and Koko junction in Delta State. The tanker immediately exploded and the resultant fire burnt the nearby vehicles, which were trapped in the gridlock on the bad portion of the road.

A governorship aspirant in Edo State, John Yakubu, who spoke on the incident in Benin City, urged the Federal Government to speed up intervention works on the highway, saying the accident was avoidable if the government was alive to its responsibilities.

Yakubu frowned at what he termed governmen’s insensitivity by leaving the highways to deteriorate over the years, warning that there would be no end to such avoidable road disasters if governments at the federal and state levels failed to live up to their responsibilities of making travelling on the highways safe.

He urged government to hand over federal roads that are in dire need of rehabilitation to states to manage since they are closer to the states.The Africa Network for Economic and Environmental Justice (ANEEJ) advised the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the East-West Road.

Coordinator of the group, David Ugolor, who also spoke on the accident on the Benin-Sapele-Warri Road, part of the East-West Road, condoled with the families of the victims, who now bear the burden of the tragedy.

“We do not want a repeat of what happened on October 1, 2023, so, urgent steps should be taken to particularly fix the Ologbo-Oghara axis, the Ughelle-Patani-Bayelsa axis and other sections of the road to avert more tragedies.

“Today, we are making a passionate and solemn appeal to the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the East-West Road and take immediate, decisive action to remedy the failed portions of the road, and even take a step further to complete the entire mega project which was started many years ago,” Ugolor said.

A commuter, Mrs. Justina Ugwuanyi, who travelled from Enugu to Lagos, recently, but slept on the road with her nine-year-old daughter, also tasked the government to quickly rehabilitate the highway.

“It took me over 24 hours to travel from my part of Enugu State to Lagos. From my area to Onitsha took about five hours instead of two and a half hours that it used to take when the roads were in good shape. Then when we got to Benin bypass, we spent about seven hours before we meandered our way through. We eventually got to Ijebu-Ode at midnight and the driver just parked his vehicle and said he couldn’t go again. So, we slept there and continued the journey in the morning.

“I want to use this opportunity to beg President Tinubu to fix the road. Many roads across the country are in very bad shape. I’m happy that the Minister of Works went round to see things by himself. I just hope that he is sincere with his outcry after the tour. All of us will soon know,” she said.

Recall that the Minister of Works, David Umahi, had, after a tour of the federal highways recently, decried the state of the roads. At a recent meeting with stakeholders in Abuja, Umahi blamed engineers in the ministry, especially the controllers, who are entrusted with the supervision of the contracts, saying they have failed Nigerians.

“How can one explain traveling 14-hours between Lokoja and Benin, when projects are ongoing and monies paid? What are the controllers doing that you cannot ask the contractors to maintain the roads? They are paid and trucks are falling; the roads are bad. People are going through villages and you are controllers. Bridges are collapsing almost on a daily basis, especially in the South East. The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) gave reports and yet we are dealing with blood.

“Anytime somebody is kidnapped on those roads that the president and ministers suffered to put in place and paid for or a vehicle falls or somebody dies or materials are wasted and people cannot move from one point to the other, as a result of your carelessness, you should know that you are drinking the blood of innocent Nigerians,” the minister said.

Turning to the contractors, Umahi said: “There is no project being constructed right now in Nigeria that is going to last for seven years. The question is: are we going to be maintaining or reconstructing our roads after every 10 years? That is what we’ve been doing.

“I traveled from Abuja to Benin City through Lokoja, all the stretches of the road are on contract, ongoing. This is through the policy of the last administration, but how many of the roads are motorable? I travelled through the roads myself and I shed tears for the kind of pains our people are going through.

“I spent 14 hours on the road having started my journey from 10 am and got to Benin City at 2 pm the next day. I was very happy I experienced the pains. President Tinubu said I must travel through all the projects so that I’ll brief him on my experience and tell him the truth.”

Reacting to the development, a former President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Emeka Ezeh, noted that besides roads, many other infrastructure in the country are in poor state.

Ezeh, who congratulated Umahi on his appointment and described him as a round peg in a round hole, said the minister was on track with his tour of road projects across the country.

“He has the technical capacity. Virtually every infrastructure in the country is in a poor state; roads are not an exemption from the minister’s outburst. He is a civil engineer that is well exposed. The minister is crying to the extent that he is bitter about the state of infrastructure in the country. If you go on the roads, you will also cry. I call it crying because of his showing of concerns.

“Having said that, Nigeria has come of age in terms of procurement procedure. I don’t think that any of those contracts was awarded without the approval of the Federal Government. The issue is that of contract management, quality control and contract agreement. It includes payment as at when due. Both parties must come together to review what is happening. That is why the minister is going round. If I were in his position, I am going to do the same. What he is doing is normal,” the former NSE chief said.

On whether the contractors or the supervisors are to blame for shoddy jobs, Ezeh explained that roads are designed with specifications, noting that as buildings collapse when overloaded, so also are roads.

According to him, the dismantling of weighbridges by the government is contributing to the dilapidation of the country’s road infrastructure. “The government dismantled the tollgates. We used to have the weighbridges that monitor the trucks. They are cited near tollgates. They made sure that the vehicles did not carry loads that are more than 30 tons. The issue is: using tollgates and having good roads or using bad roads that are free, which one is better?” he queried.

Asked whether local firms would do better jobs if awarded road contracts, Ezeh said: “I don’t know of foreign contractors. All the contractors are local contractors. They all registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). Fifty-one per cent of the shareholders are Nigerians. Is there anything wrong with Chinese doing business in Nigeria? Are there no Nigerians living in other countries? The roads we are using are they foreign roads or Nigerian roads?

“We need to get things done to standard. The local engineers are involved. But the issue is, do they have equipment? Are you going to construct roads with your hands? With Ajaokuta Steel Company not working, how do you get the equipment to build local capacity?

“The NSE has led a team to do the Road Reform Bill that would have provided regular income for the maintenance of roads. The National Assembly passed it but presidential assent was denied. I am not aware of the reasons it was denied presidential assent. I am sure the minister can look at the bill. After he has gone through it, he will see how he can rejig it.”

On the way forward, Ezeh stated that good roads cost a lot of money to construct, adding that paucity of funds is affecting road construction projects in the country.

“People pay to construct good roads in other countries. But in our own case, when we start the roads we don’t know when they will be completed. There is no money. If the government has money why will they not pay?

“The road users need to be patient with the government. We have to give them time to do their budget. The government should continue with its policy. You don’t expect changes without people crying. The contractors are working for the minister. They have to take directives from him,” he noted.

To the National Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers, Ezugu Nice, the problem with Nigerian roads has to do with the design, the award of the contract and the supervision of the project.

He said: “The problem is the wrong administration of contracts from the design to award and management. That is why when roads are constructed, they become dilapidated in less than five years. The asphalt is meant to last for 20 years. There is the need for a review after the road has been constructed. Roads are not meant to last forever. It could actually last for 20 years but you need to upgrade it. But in our situation, roads constructed are gone in five years. We need to allow professionals to do their work, not interjecting here and there.

“You are supposed to test the foundation of the soil; that will tell you what is to be designed and the materials for layout. But do we follow the process?”

According to Nice, the contractors are not to blame for shoddy work but the person that is supposed to supervise the contract.“During the award process, did those in charge of administration of the project allow competitive bidding? We have professionals who can do the job. Those people will not like to be blacklisted. I don’t want to mention names but some of the big companies can do quality work. We also have Nigerian companies that can do quality work. Do they give them the opportunity? We need to follow due process,” he added.

On what COREN could do about the situation, Nice said: “When you say COREN, they just regulate the engineering profession. They cannot be on site to supervise the project. Some people are paid to be on site and supervise the project. It is only when there is a real danger that COREN will send its men there. To what extent can they be on the sites?

“The projects are all over the country. We have them at the local to the state and federal levels. The way out is to go back and follow due process. Technically, the issue lies with the administration process, the design and the contractors. The contract, specifications and drawings, are they being followed? If they are being followed, 90 per cent of the project will not fail.

“I think the right thing is to call a meeting of the stakeholders to brainstorm on the way forward so the loopholes can be identified. We have experienced engineers but are they given the opportunity to handle the jobs? That is where the issue is. There is the need to call a meeting of the stakeholders so that the weak points can be identified and solutions proferred.” (The Guardian)

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