The Problem of Fuel, Roads and Other Infrastructure
Ituah Ighodalo

As I write this article, I have in front of me a newspaper with a story captioned, “Fuel Crisis Grounds Airlines”. The summary of the story is that both foreign and domestic airlines operating in Nigeria are having operational problems due to the rising cost of fuel and now prefer to buy aviation fuel from Ghana where it is being sold for sixty naira per litre compared to eighy-five naira in Nigeria.

Ghana imports all its crude oil from Nigeria and refines at home. Why should we have any form of fuel crisis at all in this nation? Why should we be exporting crude oil to Ghana and yet the refined fuel we buy in Nigeria is more expensive than the one being sold in Ghana? Why should we be having two to four fuel price increases within a period of a year and with every price increase, there is a labour unrest, series of debates and strikes and we are back again and keep repeating the same cycle? What is going on in Nigeria? Nobody seems to have the answer to that question.            

Nigeria is a country that does not understand itself. It is also a country that seems to survive on its own in a catalytic motion that nobody seems to understand. The policies are not clear. The corporate direction is not well defined. There are arguments and counter arguments.

There is no form of cohesion within the government. How can we have a nation that is the world’s sixth largest oil producing nation and yet we have challenges with oil at home? We have four refineries and none of those refineries is working. What is so difficult about refining crude oil that we find it impossible to refine crude oil for our own domestic use?

What is the big deal and what is the challenge about electricity that we find it so difficult to produce enough electricity to meet local consumption, meanwhile just down the road in Ghana; they have more than enough electricity.

I am not sure that we are putting enough corporate thought into the direction that our country Nigeria is going. I was reading recently some of the accounts of General Yakubu Gowon’s 70th birthday celebrations and of some of his achievements while he was in office. One of the things I read was that there was a time in the history of this nation during this man’s time when we were contemplating paying the salaries of the civil servants of other nations and lending money to other nations and building their infrastructure for them.

Then just a few years down the line, our own national infrastructure have almost totally collapsed. I thank God for the GSM and the wonders it has worked. I thank God that my driver now carries a phone and my houseboy now carries a phone. But most of the time when you want to make a call, it is either the lines are busy or it is just virtually impossible. The cost is so prohibitive that it really takes the shine off its benefits.

But then what about our roads? Not too long ago, I took a trip from Lagos to Asaba by road. It was one of the most challenging events of my life. I left Lagos at 3.00 p.m. and did not get to Asaba until 11.00 p.m. That was due in part first to the state of our roads and secondly to the nature and behaviour of our policemen.

The Lagos-Ibadan expressway is gradually deteriorating and steadily becoming a very unbearable road. Most parts of the road are undulating, uneven and unbalanced. There are all sorts of cracks, potholes and crevices all over the road. When you turn off that road and get unto the Sagamu-Ijebu-Ore road, part of that road up to Ore is still bearable but once after Ore, it is as if you are in another country entirely.

The tar is off, all you see is mud, the road becomes impassable and your journey becomes unbearable. Benin has become very chaotic, difficult and challenging to pass through. I wonder what would have happened if the new Ring road that makes you go round the city instead of through the city, had not been built. From Benin to Asaba, the road is smooth, gentle and whoever is responsible for that road has done a very good job. You wonder to yourself why all of your journey cannot be like that from Benin to Asaba.

You then begin to wonder why and how our honourable Minister of Works finds so much time locking horns with Bola Ahmad Tinubu in Lagos over FERMA and LASTMA while all these major roads are yearning for attention. It is either Ogunlewe has solved all the problem of the federal ministry of works or he does not know what his priorities are! Ogunlewe should take a drive through all the major trunk roads connecting the different major cities of the country and see for himself the hazards that Nigerians have to go through whenever they are travelling.

It is even more painful in a nation where there is no alternative source of transportation. There is no rail network. Air transport is expensive and then of course that is when there is aviation fuel to fly the planes. I am therefore imploring our honourable Minister to please leave Tinubu alone and attend to the condition of all our federal roads. I know that the politics Ogunlewe and Tinubu are playing in Lagos is very important to them but so is the state of our roads and infrastructure.     
Then we come to the policemen. I don’t know why we have so many policemen and police checkpoints on the stretch of roads that I mentioned above. I am not sure that all these policemen on these roads have done anything to reduce the number of armed robberies that are experienced. You cannot drive for five minutes without being stopped by policemen. In fact, from one police checkpoint to the other, the policemen can literally see themselves.

The checkpoints on the beautiful piece of road between Benin and Asaba have made travelling on that road unbearable. The policemen study your vehicle particulars as if they are about to study for an exam. If your particulars are complete and correct, they then start asking for your ECRM. If they let you go on that score, then one of them might start asking you for proof of ownership of your car, your spare tyres, your jack, and your mother’s particulars.

All these go on and on. At the end of the day, all they want is money. Once you give them some money they let you go on your way otherwise they make life very unbearable for you. What you need to go through Nigerian roads these days is prayers. Prayers from accidents, prayers from armed robbers and prayers from policemen. I know the policemen are there to protect the people, but they are succeeding more in making life unbearable for us. 

So the average Nigerian is bombarded on every side by one sort of infrastructure problem. The masses in Nigeria are suffering and the nation is undergoing pain. Things that should not cost anything are costing an arm and a leg. Things must change. We cannot go on like this. We cannot continue to have all these topsy-turvy over fuel price increases.

We cannot continue to have all these topsy-turvy over electricity. We cannot continue to have all these topsy-turvy over bad roads. We cannot continue to have all these topsy-turvy over armed robbery attacks. How can people survive in this kind of environment? I am begging our leaders to please step into the situation of this country. Our economy is not doing very well.

There are many things that can be done to quickly turn the economy around. There are many things we can do to turn the situation of our country around. But the first and most fundamental thing is that we have to be true and honest to ourselves. If you want to get anything done in government, no one seems to be interested.

The people in government are just doing business as usual. They even grumble and complain about private sector people and technocrats who go into government and try to turn things around because they try to block the loopholes that fuel corruption and will not allow them to chop money. Projects that will benefit the people don’t see the life of the day simply because some people in government are not going to gain any kickbacks or profits from them.

How can our nation progress when we have such kinds of people with such attitudes within the government?

All these structural problems within the government have to be addressed. The people in government are too busy travelling around, fighting each other, trying to bring each other down instead of concentrating on the things that can be done to turn the nation around. What we need to do to make this nation work are very simple things. If these simple things are done well truthfully and forthrightly, this nation can be transformed within a few years. Like what one of my good friends once said to me, “What you need is a truthful and forthright vision and when you run with that vision, the Almighty himself will make a provision.” I hope someone out there is listening.