By Hon. Frank Chike Okoli
Across Nigeria today, there are two stories of roads being told. The first is the story of grand, new coastal highways announced with fanfare, ribbon cuttings, and big projections. The second is the story of the roads we use every single day: the roads to the farm, to the market, to the school, to the hospital. Roads filled with potholes, gullies, and grief. The question Nigerians are asking is simple: What is our priority?
The Daily Suffering on Our Roads
Every morning, millions of Nigerians leave home to face roads that have become death traps. Trailers fall and crush lives. Buses spend hours navigating craters. Food rots in transit because it takes too long to move from farm to city. Businesses lose money on constant vehicle repairs. Pregnant women lose babies in ambulances stuck on bad roads.
These are not statistics. These are fathers, mothers, students, and traders. These are the roads that power our economy and our daily lives. When they fail, the entire country feels it in the price of food, the cost of transport, and the loss of human lives. Yet year after year, these roads remain unattended to.
The Appeal of Mega Projects
I am not against development. A coastal highway can open up new economic corridors, boost tourism, and connect communities. Every nation needs visionary infrastructure. But governance is about sequencing and priority. It is about fixing the roof before building a new wing on the house.
When the roads that carry the majority of our people and goods are in a state of collapse, to start a new mega project without a clear plan to fix existing ones sends a dangerous message. It tells the ordinary Nigerian that government sees them, but does not feel them. That is the definition of misplaced priority.
Bad Governance in Action
Bad governance is not just corruption. Bad governance is also poor judgment. It is choosing optics over impact. It is choosing what looks good on a billboard over what works on the ground.
Bad governance in action looks like this:
1. No Maintenance Culture: We build roads but refuse to maintain them. So we end up rebuilding the same road again and again.
2. Lack of Consultation: Projects are announced without asking the people who use the roads daily what their most urgent need is.
3. No Accountability: Contractors deliver substandard work and are not held responsible. Roads fail within months and nothing happens.
4. Ignoring the Masses: The farmer in Benue, the trader in Onitsha, the student in Kano do not use coastal highways daily. They use federal and state roads that have been abandoned.
What Should Be the Priority?
The priority must be the people. The priority must be functionality before monument.
First, government must conduct a full audit of all federal roads and classify them by urgency. The roads that carry the most traffic, move the most food, and connect the most people must come first.
Second, there must be transparency in contracting and strict supervision. A road should not be commissioned if it cannot last.
Third, we must fund maintenance deliberately. Set aside money every year specifically to keep existing roads motorable.
And yes, we can plan for big projects like coastal highways. But let it be done with a clear timeline, with proper funding, and without abandoning the roads that millions depend on today.
Conclusion
A government that ignores the pothole in front of a citizen’s house but announces a highway far away has lost touch.
The true measure of governance is not the size of the project you announce. It is the quality of life of the people you serve.
Fix our daily roads. Make them safe. Make them passable. Let food move. Let people move. Let businesses thrive.
Then we can talk about coastal highways with pride, knowing that no Nigerian was left behind on the way there.
Because governance is not about grand announcements. Governance is about good roads, and good decisions.
May God bless Nigeria..
