Chuks Nwagbara
I would like to weigh in on the conversation you have triggered on our Governors and obsession with roads.
Yes, successive governors/governments of the South East (SE) states always ride on the crest of “building roads” to enjoy ephemeral popularity.
Perhaps, us and them have failed to distinguish between “road rehabilitation” and “road construction”. Road rehabilitation is what we do when we scrape and put a layer of asphalt on already existing roads as against opening up and building roads and bridges on pristine territories.
For instance, the Enugu–Port Harcourt Expressway, which construction started in 1978 was laid through virgin forests and that is a proper “road construction”. Hence, subsequent civil works on that road would be classified as rehabilitation or remediation where erosion abatement measures were/are called for.
Thus, it’s a misnomer for us and the governors and their governments to hail the laying of asphalt over existing roads as construction of so and so kilometers of roads. Oftentimes, the laying of the asphalt are wafer thin and the composition of the asphalt of such inferior quality that the roads begin to fail and wash away even after one rainy 🌧️ season. Meaning that there’s the need for the next Governor to work on the same road, in the next year or a few years down the road.
Then again, there’s the absurd situation where a governor and his government demarcates a road that can barely take to and fro traffic ⛔ and call it “dualisation of road”. A vivid example is when the Theodore Oji administration between 2007 and 2015 demarcated the stretch of road from Ọkpara Square to Abia Tower on the Enugu –Port Harcourt Expressway and claims to have dualized the road. It only took the current Alex Otti government in Abia State to properly demarcated that same road with 3 lanes on either way complemented with drainage system, sidewalks, bus stops 🛑 and solar street lights.
Well, the point I’ve been trying to make is that whether styled rehabilitation or construction, most of the roads done by our recent governors/governments are so shoddy that they require repeat works in a few short years. Hence, the repetition of road works by successive governors. That reminds one that the Umuahia urban roads project that was begun in 1978 by Messrs Fougerrolle Construction Company had a cross section of over one and half feet of cement and aggregate and stone base before over 6 inches of asphalt overlay, along with a network of arterial drainage which emptied into a vast drainage spine that ran across the length of the town and discharged into a river. Hence, there’s hardly any case of flooding in Umuahia up until date. And that network of Umuahia core urban roads endure till today, in contradistinction with the roads of the newer estates and outreaches of greater Umuahia, which roads are a poor imitation in comparison.
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On the question of governments building industries, let us not lose sight of the fact that governments all over the world are poor businessmen, and are better placed to regulate businesses than carry them out themselves. In current economic approaches even in communist countries, privatisation has become the norm. Thus, the US and UK governments cannot point to a single industry that they solely established and run. Even, in the security and defence industry, both the US and UK governments procure what hardware that they from armoured tanks to jet fighters and bombers, and many times they outsource the services that they need from private businesses.
Now, the much vaunted economic resurgence in communist China today is built on a vast array of private companies with only nominal State involvement.
It is interesting to note that Heathrow and Gatwick airports are privately run today, and British Airways is British only in name.
Back home, in view of the present economic realities, which no doubt will be complicated by the hyper corruption bedevilling the country. It is, therefore, inconceivable that any government established business entity in any part of Nigeria will be immune to the insidious virus of corruption.
So, I would rather that the SE governments concentrate on creating an environment that would be conducive for businesses to thrive such as effective security, good and durable network of roads, reliable power supply (read expansion and extension of Geometric Power) etc. As an additional sop, the governments can take minority stakes to inject capital where that can incentivize the enterprises. That was what Peter Obi’s administration did with Orient Oil drilling company and SABMiller brewery.
Now, I could go on and on, but let pause here.
~ Chuks Nwagbara
Chuks N. Nwagbara is a veteran journalist who rose to serve as a member of the Editorial Board of The Sun Newspaper before heading the Editorial Board of Hallmark newspaper as Chairman.
He is a Micro Biologist turned versatile journalist
