ISSUES: Why buy a Car, when it can't Fly?!

Road transportation is the most preferred mode of transportation in Nigeria, as it accounts for 99.5 per cent of the nation's passengers' and freight services. Out of the 200,000 kilometres of roads in this country, only 39,000 kilometres are paved. This 39,000 kilometres paved, is not even maintained! The roads are owned by the federal, state and local governments.

The country's inadequate road network is a serious issue which require urgent attention. This is a country that boasts of the best network of roads in Sub-Saharan Africa in the 1980s, and the huge investment was allowed to deteriorate without any visible maintenance strategy.

Bad roads are now one of the major causes for road deaths in Nigeria, motorists have become more vulnerable to robberies. Some transport workers are even tired of the work because of the bad roads when they can not account for the day's work due to fixing of their cars.

Some of this road defects include inadequate road shoulders, non-uniform lanes, uneven pavement, improper road markings and signs, construction negligence, faulty designs, poor construction techniques, poor foundation, use of substandard materials, vehicles' weight, poor drainage, use of unskilled workmen in some construction procedures and lack of maintenance.

Have you travelled from Warri to Port Harcourt? Or from Port Harcourt to Aba? It is even worse that the road in the INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT QUARTERS Omagwa, Rivers State is so bad, that some motorists don't enter.

I think we the public have roles to play in ensuring that our roads are in good conditions, because weather we like it or not, the government officials do not feel any discomfort as we do.... I think we should ensure the safety of contractors grading roads in our areas...

WHAT DO YOU THINK?



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