08/10/2019
ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE REALITY OF BUILDING A MODERN NSUKKA:
In 2015, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi promised to transform Nsukka into a modern city. He stated in his first inaugural speech as Governor, that his administration “will modernize Nsukka to compete with other University towns in attracting technology and knowledge-based businesses and other industrial support ventures, bearing in mind that Nsukka is the second largest town in Enugu State”. The governor went further to inaugurate an eleven man committee of Enugu State Development Association with the mandates to “… identify the factors responsible for the slow pace of development in Nsukka and to develop a master plan or modify existing one..” With that, it seemed that all was set to evolve the university town into a modern city that would compete with its colonial counterparts
In his first term, the governor embarked on reconstruction of Opi-Nsukka road. This hitherto had been used by previous governments as a bait to attract votes from the area, after which it would be abandoned. Today, Opi-Nsukka road is unarguably the first standard road done in Nsukka, either as a local government or senatorial zone since the return of democracy in 1999. It was the first Nsukka saw road of quality, with full drainage system, walkways and street lighting.
Road infrastructure is critical in evolving Nsukka into a modern city. Roads connect communities to towns, local governments, cities and state capitals; it connects students and teachers to schools, farmers and their farm produce to the market, patients and doctors to hospitals, people to their businesses, and so on, making for easy transportation of goods and people. Another reason road is critical in evolving a modern Nsukka which the Governor envisions is that out of the four major transportation means that support modern cities (rail, air, sea and road), Nsukka by its very nature can only boast of road. Road therefore is something Nsukka people hold so dearly knowing that while other contemporary cities have alternative means of transportation, they are confined to road, at least, for now.
THE CONCERNS
The governor may have started other road projects in the town, in pursuit of his vision, but critical observers are concerned about the quality of work done on these roads. People have been musing, majority talking in suppressed whispers, but those whispers are becoming louder by day. In fact, it started over the shoddy construction done along university road.
University of Nigeria Nsukka ranks among the biggest and most prestigious academic institutions in the country. Everyone expected that due diligence would be deployed in the construction of the road that leads to the prestigious institution. The road had maintained one lane, with a fairly wide road width since the university's inception in 1960. It was largely hoped that the government would expand it to accommodate the ever growing population of the university town, and as well beautify it. This perhaps informed the government's attempt at rehabilitating it. But instead of expanding the road width to accommodate a standard dual carriageway, it merely rehabilitated and divided the existing lane into two. This is not only disappointing but shortsighted. Everyone is lamenting the situation.
There seem to, in fact, be no master plan to transform Nsukka as earlier mouthed. Even though road projects are ongoing at different places, the quality doesn't seem to emanate from a composite plan. The government seems to be deciding, impromptu, as there is no harmony in the construction efforts. There seem to be no connection between project A and B. The work doesn't seem to flow into each other. Every project stands apart and it seems that there is no articulate plan that the designers had sat down to take a holistic view of what the road systems in Nsukka requires such that the standard and thoroughness of work would really be befitting of a modern city.
The reality of building a modern Nsukka is that a holistic blueprint containing wider roads and flood control should be done. If cost is part of the concerns, then it's better to do fewer quality roads than many shoddy works.
Some people are of the view that since Nsukka has not seen this spate of road construction before, it's a mark of ingratitude to criticize the efforts of the governor. It could be that these set of people feel that telling the governor the reality of things might exclude them from whatever benefit they get or intend to get from him. But, on the contrary, the best people should do is to help the Governor achieve his dreams by commending his good efforts and also pointing out those areas he has not done very well so that amendments can be made. It was obvious, for instance that whatever template the contractor handling the New Anglican road was using wouldn't work. People rose and criticized the work, prompting the governor to visit the site and order for a redesign to take care of the concerns of the people. In the same vein, it's important to draw the attention of the governor to other projects where work should be improved upon.
The truth is that the building of a modern Nsukka which the Governor envisions is a laudable one, and what is worth doing is worth doing well. Since Nsukka is disadvantaged in having other important means of transportation, the building of roads should be done with utmost diligence. We therefore encourage our amiable governor to make the best road construction he can that is truly befitting of a modern city.
PUBLIC ROADS: WHEN NON-MAINTENANCE MEETS ABUSE:
Road is a critical infrastructure that boosts the economic lives of a people. Often, individuals are not able to build asphalted roads because of the amount of time and resources that go into road projects. Communities and towns lobby government for road projects, and many times they have to stay for years, suffering, before government constructs a given road. How expensive this project is, and how lean and dwindling the resources of government allegedly is, ought to make both the government and the people to take the act of caring for and maintaining these roads seriously.
The problem of Nsukka is not just the absence of standard road networks, but poor maintenance of the few existing ones. Ideally, laid out plan for the maintenance of road should be incorporated into the design. But where this is not done, the government usually evolves a maintenance strategy to ensure that roads meet their design life. It is also expected that the people, who are the ultimate beneficiaries, would care for these roads, considering how difficult it is to come by. However, the attitudes of both the government and the people with respect to the use and maintenance of roads in Nsukka, leave nothing to be desired.
It is clear that many roads in Nsukka are in state of disrepair. Some are fast breaking down, having developed serious potholes, while others have become completely impassable. These roads, some years ago, were in good shape. But today, they have become death traps and unsightly. Several portions have developed potholes, ditches and crater such that it would seem as if at a time, they never looked good.
PWD and the Era Gone By
In the past, government funded a special road maintenance unit called Public Works Department (PWD). This unit saw to the maintenance of public roads and facilities. Their works included cleaning/clearing grasses along the road, empting the drains to enable free flow of water, detecting and repairing of all cracks, depressions and potholes on pavement, monitoring of facilities to ensure that they are not subjected to abuse by the public, monitoring of structures for early detection of structural failures and effecting timely repairs so that the public is not subjected to stress and hardships resulting from total failure of such facility. That was the good old days when the government was very alive to its responsibilities! But today, such unit is perhaps dormant or not empowered anymore to carry out its functions.
In Nsukka, PWD is non-existence. This conclusion was drawn, looking at the ugly state of roads in the area. Some of them have become death traps, and their ugly state has affected businesses, development and the quality of lives of the people. Currently, there are cracks and potholes on the newly constructed Orba Road, Odeigbo-Barracks Road etc. They appear small now, but would surely develop into big potholes. Small cracks that should be fixed immediately are neglected. They develop into potholes, then into ditches and crater and then the road fail completely.
Our Bane Is Our Conduct
The Attitude of the people contributes significantly to why these roads have gone so bad. It is common to see people dump refuse inside the drains, maybe hoping that the rains would wash them away. Some tip sand and gravel on the roads for their private construction projects. They mix concrete on the pavement, which is often poorly scraped and it sticks permanently to the pavement. Some people, instead of providing proper crossbar over the drains that lead to their houses or business premises, sand-fill the drains to create access. These acts cause water to berth on the road until it becomes completely damaged. When rain falls, these roads become impassable.
What Can Be Done?
It is needless to neglect cracks and potholes until they need millions of naira to rebuild. Does a stitch in time no longer save nine? The government and the people should be alive to their responsibilities. The local and state governments should revive and equip its agencies to ensure timely detection and repair of cracks. The amounts of money voted to reconstruct failed roads and the level of stress and hardship the public is subjected to before such repair comes into effect can be avoided if government sees road maintenance as priority.
The awareness level of the people on the care of road facilities should be raised through constructive public enlightenment campaigns. Rules on the use and care of roads should be drilled into peoples' consciousness and abusers should be duly punished, with measures punitive enough to deter others.
A Call For Self Help!
While we continue to call on governments (local and state) to carry out their statutory role of building and maintaining public roads, reality suggests that we begin to think of how community people can intervene, particularly in the face of persistent neglect by the government. This is not “a vote of no confidence” on the government but being sheer proactive. We should begin to think in terms of what we can do as individuals or groups to care for and maintain these roads according to the capacities we have. We should work out what we need to do to preserve the already paved roads in our communities to make them last long. There should be a consciousness that these roads do not essentially belong to government but to the people. We should therefore personalize and protect them as we do our personal properties. Anyone seen subjecting this road to any form of abuse should be roundly rebuked. Instead of waiting for the government, there should be collective efforts, in the meantime to open up all drains filled by sand and debris so that water will flow freely. With concerted efforts, some cracks and potholes could be repaired to prevent further breakdown and eventual collapse. It is needless to neglect our roads till they need millions of naira to be rebuilt.
