NIGERIANS NEED DEMOCRACY DIVIDENDS

 Toll fees will push up already high transportation fares, argues

IFEANYICHUKWU AFUBA 

Works Minister, Dave Umahi, recently held a ministerial press briefing wherein he announced the imminent return of motor tolls on our highways. Making a case for the collection of road use levy, the Minister argued that it was necessary to ensure sustainability of the built roads. Nigerian Tribune, Friday, May 15, 2025 captured the ministerial submission in the following excerpts. “In the past, we built roads, but unfortunately, they didn’t last up to 50 years. As they were being built, they started failing. This has placed a huge burden on FERMA and the Ministry of Works…We have 35, 000 kilometres of roads nationwide. With the new legacy projects, we are looking at over 38, 000 kilometres. It is unrealistic to rely solely on Nigeria’s budgetary provisions to fund and maintain all these roads. This is why we are adopting public – private – partnership model. The goal is not only to construct these roads but also to ensure their maintenance.” Toll fees are already in place in some federal roads. The planned gradual extension of the “tax” to users of other highways, is however, avoidable and unprogressive, both from democratic and economic standpoints.

Mr David Umahi’s stance on the necessity of toll gates for effective road maintenance is faulty as it relies on symptom as rather than root causes of the situation. The underlining factor in Nigeria’s underdeveloped road transport is a systemic failure of standards. Non durability of Nigerian roads is less about mopping up extra funds for their maintenance and more about judicious management of the road construction chain. Nigerian governments, at federal, state and local levels, do not need to impose toll fees on our roads to achieve road maintenance. When toll levies were religiously collected across the country in the 1980s and 1990s, it did not result in a better state of our thoroughfares. The highways continued in progressive deterioration even as the toll levies were increased and extended to more roads. It was on account of the terrible state of intra – city and inter – state roads that the Petroleum Task Fund set up by the Abacha regime in 1996 devoted the chunk of it’s resources on roads rehabilitation. The question then is why didn’t toll levies save our roads from collapse? If the scheme failed spectacularly under the stricter environment of military rule, what chances does it stand today? 

More importantly, there are strong indications that the public works sector does not lack the funding required to deliver quality road infrastructure. Road construction services which are categorised under capital expenditure have consistently earned high allocations in federal and state budgets. Given the political capital that goes with provision of good roads, especially in the democratic era, the claim of insufficient funding for the Works ministry cannot be sustained. If anything, the public works sector appears to be squandering Nigeria’s resources in the name of road development. Nigeria’s road construction cost is about the highest in Africa. In a December 13, 2024 editorial on abandoned road projects, The Punch stated: “Most contracted roads are often produced with inflated bills.” This assessment is widely shared by Nigerians and was indeed the finding of a World Bank report in 2000. A 2013 study  inspired by the earlier World Bank revelation concluded that contract cost of a kilometre of road in Nigeria hovered between N400m and N1b against the World Bank benchmark of N238m in Africa. The analysis by Abuja based Centre for Democratic Justice is interesting and worth sharing in some detail.

“In 2013, the Federal Government awarded the contract for the reconstruction of the 127km Lagos-Ibadan Expressway at N167bn ($1bn at the time it was awarded)

Interestingly, and also in 2013, a similar contract was awarded for the 1,028km Lagos-Abidjan road project. The Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS) estimated this project to cost between N167bn and N240bn.

In other words, the number of kilometers to be covered by the ECOWAS project is eight times higher than Nigeria’s Lagos-Ibadan Express road project; and the cost per kilometer is far lower than that of Nigeria.

At the projected maximum cost of N240bn, the cost of the ECOWAS road per km will be N234m  whereas the six-lane Expressway road contract awarded by the Federal Government at N167bn cost N1.3bn per kilometer.

In the Limpopo Province of South Africa, to build a kilometer of paved road, it will cost N33m or $194,000, while the maintenance cost stands at N7.6m ($45,000).

In 2006, the Lagos State Government signed a 30-year concession agreement with the Lekki Concession Company to finance, build, operate and maintain the Lekki-Epe Expressway.

At a cost of approximately N1bn ($5.9m) per km, the Lekki-Epe Expressway project also far overshoots the World Bank benchmark.” (https://autojosh.com

 And on 17 July, 2023 Arise News reported the picture painted by a civil society group. The Network for Actualisation of Social Growth & Viable Development described “the 50 kilometres Port Harcourt Ring Road contract awarded by Rivers State Government at N195.3b standing at approximately N4b per kilometre as the most expensive road in the world.”

In the face of the extravagant nature of our road contracts, the system requires a surgical overhaul. This will free up padded funds for road maintenance and other purposes. Shedding the sector the weight of inflated costs would yield enough for resources to service road infrastructure and get rid of toll gates. Achieving high standards in the construction stages is the next step in realising durable roads. A major cause of poor quality and therefore rapidly deteriorating roads in Nigeria is compromise. Officials entrusted with supervision of construction processes accept gratification to lower standards. It’s a vicious cycle in which construction companies bribe officials to get approval for shoddy work 

done and cart away huge sums only for rehabilitation contracts to be awarded shortly after. As the Ngige experience emphasises, regular and strict supervision of each construction stage is the way out. Senator Chris Ngige holds the record as the former Governor of Anambra State with the highest quality roads. More than 20 years after, the roads Ngige built in Anambra State are still standing strong. Resolved on deflecting Mr Peter Obi’s election petition with performance, Ngige scrupulously monitored road projects himself. The close follow – up paid off with delivery of solid roads. If Umahi’s Works Ministry gets it right with adherence to standard specifications in construction, maintenance cost will drastically reduce, removing the need for toll levies.

It’s also important to remind the proponents of toll gate policy that the staying power of democracy is government’s responsiveness to the needs of the people. 

 Nigerians’ subscription for democratic dispensation is hinged on the expectation that the welfare of the people shall be the highest law. Speaking at an international forum in Abuja on May 14, 2024, vice president, Kashim Shettima stated that the Renewed Hope Agenda was not just a policy framework. “It is a statement of commitment, a covenant between us and the people…centred on promoting democracy, driving economic development.” What Nigerians look forward to now is government intervention in socio – economic needs such as housing, healthcare, agriculture and education. In the second republic, Shehu Shagari’s presidency attempted a low cost housing scheme for low income earners. The second phase of that modest effort was aborted with the coup of 31st December 1983.Today, the need for affordable housing has soared alongside growth in population. 

The citizens are already groaning from low purchasing power of the naira as a result of the currency’s recent massive devaluation. This has sparked spike in cost of living, especially rises in fuel, electricity and food costs. Implementing toll fees will push up already high transportation fares further. Let the federal government scrap the tolling policy and dismantle the toll gates.

Afuba writes from Awka