The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, has criticised the condition of roads across Nigeria, arguing that the government should prioritise the rehabilitation and maintenance of existing infrastructure rather than pursuing projects primarily for publicity.
In an X post on Monday, Obi said he had “consistently continued to respectfully appeal to those in office today to prioritise reconstruction and maintenance of existing roads and other infrastructure over commencing new ones.”
He used a recent travel experience to highlight the severity of the country’s road challenges.
Obi said, “I left someone in Onitsha on Saturday night to take the first bus to Lagos on Sunday morning. Until I left Lagos at 8 pm yesterday, he had not arrived in Lagos. He only arrived in Lagos at about 2 pm today. A journey that usually takes a maximum of 8 hours now takes nearly two days.”
The former Anambra governor maintained that the consequences of deteriorating roads extend beyond the inconvenience caused to travellers.
“It is about lost man-hours, stranded passengers sleeping on highways, wasted fuel, damaged vehicles, delayed goods, and businesses losing millions of naira,” he said.
Obi urged the government to measure infrastructure projects by their impact on citizens and the economy rather than by their size or publicity value.
“Nigerians do not need new projects just for the headlines. We need functional roads that make life and economic activity possible.
“A government must understand that infrastructure is not necessarily about the size of the project; it is about the number of lives and livelihoods it improves,” he said.
