Renewed hope for roads in Nigeria

The Lagos-Calabar Atlantic Coastal superhighway heralds a new dawn for road infrastructure in Nigeria. If completed, it will be the longest single-road construction project in the history of the country. The timing is fortuitous in the wake of the Federal Government’s decision to implement the recommendations of the 2013 Oronsaye Report on reduction of government expenditure.

These developments offer great opportunities for federal, state and local government roads. The three tiers of government must take some steps right now to benefit from the potential boost for funding the planning, construction, maintenance and administration of roads in the country.

Roads constitute a critical national asset, being important for social integration, economic development and national security. Better roads indicate better living. The road accounts for more than 90 percent of the movement of people, goods and services in the country. It is the transport mode that is necessary for using others. A good road network facilitates the provision of utilities in urban areas. It is one area in which the leadership at every tier of governance is mostly assessed. Despite this, the road is the only transport mode without its semi-autonomous agency despite many costly attempts (from 1972 to 2018) to establish the Federal Highways Authority.

The implementation of the Oronsaye Report will terminate the present duplication in the management of federal roads in Nigeria. This will also result in the actualization of proposals for improving all roads in Nigeria. Since the Federal Military Government did not ratify the 1972 recommendation to establish the Federal Highways Authority “without delay,” many proposals in succeeding years did not receive the necessary executive approval at the final stage.

In December 2018, President Buhari did not sign the bill for the establishment of the Federal Highways Authority. However, after the withholding of assent by the President, the Eighth Assembly did not evoke its constitutional powers of making it an Act by passing it again with a two-thirds majority.

The principal officers (in that National Assembly) who are now in the Executive Arm are the Secretary to the Government and the Chief of Staff to the President. The bill that was passed in 2018 first originated from the Executive Arm during the administration of President Yar’adua and it was sustained by President Goodluck Jonathan.

In Nigeria, roads are classified as federal highways, state roads and local government routes. According to available statistics, there are 36 000 kilometres of federal roads linking the whole country. It is the longest national highway network in Africa. There has been little or no addition to the network, after the golden years of road construction in the Fourth National Development Plan period, 1980-1985.

The total of 30,000 kilometres for all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory is outdated. The total of 85,000 kilometres for 774 Local government areas is incorrect because the inventory for the third tier increases as towns and villages add new streets. There is tremendous work ahead for states and local governments to carry out an inventory of roads in their respective domains.

In 1997, the Federal Military Government inaugurated the “Road Vision 2000 Committee” headed by Engineer Michael Adesina from the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA). It was charged with the responsibility “to mid-wife a Road Fund and the Federal Highways Authority.” The committee produced a Draft Decree in 1998. A Nigerian stakeholder succeeded in informing General Abdulsalam’s transitional regime about the Decree awaiting promulgation into Law.

However, given the short time of its mandate, the matter was deferred to the “in-coming civilian administration.” As President-elect, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was intimated about the matter and he vowed to establish the Highways Authority in the first 100 days of his tenure.

On assumption of office, however, his Minister of Works advised against it while the administration quickly set up the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) in the year 2000; based on the recommendation in the Draft Decree that maintenance was to be the priority of the proposed Highways Authority. The question posed at that time remains valid today: “Where will FERMA have funds if there is no Road Fund consisting of road-user contributions enumerated in every attempt to establish a Federal Highways Authority?”  Tolling is a major item in the matrix of sources for the Road Fund.

The recommendations for establishing the Lagos Area Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (LAMATA) proposals were concluded in the last days of Brigadier-General Marwa as the Military Administrator of Lagos State. In the year 2000, Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu was intimated about the proposal and he immediately embraced it for implementation. On February 28, 2024, as President of Nigeria, Tinubu commissioned the first phase of the Lagos Rail Mass Transit Red Line.

In 2013, the Minister responsible for federal roads, Mike Onolememen, announced the approval of the merger of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency with the Highways Division of the Federal Ministry of Works. On June 6, 2014, The Guardian Editorial titled “At last, a roads agency for Nigeria?’’ stated: “That the Federal Government would conclude the long-standing effort to establish a Federal Highways Authority first attempted by the Yakubu Gowon administration in 1970 is a good development.

This is assuming the words of the minister in charge of roads would stand.” The Guardian lead article concluded with the recommendation: “A clear timetable with definite benchmarks must be set for the take-off of the National Road Fund and the Federal Roads Authority. This is the only permanent solution to the challenges of funding and management of roads in Nigeria.” In the same vein, The Guardian editorial of September 5, 2023, reiterated the call for “an agency to fund and administer federal roads.”

Route Identification signs for Federal, State and Local Government roads.

The new dawn for roads in Nigeria necessitates actualizing a consistent recommendation in all attempts to solve the challenge of funding and administering roads. This is for enforcing the tier responsibility for roads. The 1984 Council of Works Meeting in Minna Niger state-approved route identification symbols for each category of roads. In 1985, the Federal Ministry of Works designed the approved signs and began installing them on federal roads. The symbols are important for members of the public to know which tier of government is responsible for any road and where to direct reports and requests on the condition of a road.

The street is the first road a person uses on leaving the house. The Local governments are responsible for streets and low-volume roads in rural areas. There is a clear role for the citizens to contact the Ward Councilor, Local Government Chairman, assemblyman, commissioner, Governor, National Assembly member or minister concerning roads. The apathy of the middle and upper classes should end because, at present, many of them are unwilling to carve a little space and time to reach their elected officials.

The International Road Federation has highlighted the anachronism of a “Ministry of Public Works.” Like in many countries, there was a time when the Department of Public Works in Nigeria was responsible for water, electricity, public housing, lands and surveys. Over the years, each function was placed in a separate ministry or agency. During the Abacha regime and part of the Yar’adua administration, all transport modes were placed in the Ministry of Transportation but the behemoth was later dismantled into separate ministries.

The Guardian editorial of September 5, 2023, made a case for replacing the National Council of Works with a forum each for roads, housing, and the environment. At such an annual or bi-annual Workshop on roads, Federal and State officials will present a report on the condition of their roads and the plans of action.

At subsequent meetings, similar reports will be presented highlighting progress and challenges. The forum on roads must also address the issue of the 17,000 kilometres of roads taken over in 1976 from the 12 states (at the time) for the Third National Development Plan 1975-80. Segments of many federal roads passing through cities have been rehabilitated or upgraded by the states and their compensation claims are yet to be paid.

The ambitious 700-kilometre Lagos-Calabar highway project has received Federal Executive Council approval for the 47-kilometre first phase. The project officials must consider the fact that the level of water in oceans is rising because global warming is melting the ice in Polar Regions. In addition to avoiding proximity to the shore, they must consider commencing construction after the built-up areas of Victoria Island and Lekki Peninsula. Universally accepted principles of the Resettlement Action Plan demand the acceptance of compensation by those to be displaced in the right-of-way.

Where there is no mutually acceptable agreement, time-consuming litigation could stall the project. In the economics of infrastructure development, prohibitive compensation is a deterrent. Therefore, the planners may have to consider the alternative of expanding the existing Lekki Expressway or constructing an elevated segment on it, as has been persistently recommended by professionals in road infrastructure and urban development.
Akindele can be reached via: pjoakindele@gmail.com
08169476939.