Alhaji Rabilu Mohammed is a leader of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) at the Jabi Motor Park, Abuja.
Beside being a leader in the drivers’ union for a decade and a half, Alhaji Rabiu, an amiable person by all standards, drives his commercial vehicle between Abuja and Kano on regular basis.
He said he knew how the road was before it was dualised by the General Ibrahim Babangida and General Sani Abacha administrations. He also knew it while in excellent condition and after outliving its designed lifespan.
Alhaji Rabilu said the road, which links the Atlantic Ocean and the coast of the Mediterranean Sea via Nigeria, Republic of Niger and Algeria, remained in a dilapidated condition for years. And that bad condition coupled with other factors, caused countless serious accidents which led to the deaths of hundreds of travellers.
Alhaji Rabilu recalled that in addition to losing precious lives and turning married women into widows and children into orphans, valuable non-human treasures were also lost to ghastly, unsightly, accidents: cars, lorries, trailers, tractors, ferried cargo and even cash.
The condition of most roads in Nigeria made commercial drivers like Alhaji Rabilu, other motorists and Road Transport Owners and those whose goods are ferried on the roads to pray for an end to the nightmare that were our dilapidated roads.
The Almighty God answered their supplications in the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The administration he leads made the resurrection of infrastructure in the country one of its key aspirations.
To the delight of Nigerians who appreciate the importance of infrastructure in supporting and facilitating economic, social and cultural interactions and expansion, the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government is vigorously and with all sincerity, doing the equivalent of infrastructure revolution in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In the latest count, 536 road reconstruction or rehabilitation projects are running concurrently in the federation, covering the six geopolitical zones making up the entire country.
One cherished attitude of the Buhari administration is the discernible commitment to complete the projects, many of which have actually been delivered. The most visible of the road infrastructure projects, the Lagos-Ibadan and its tributaries linking Abeaokuta and Shagamu axis, the fabled Second Niger Bridge and the Abuja-Kaduna-Zariya-Kano routes, are going on apace. Each of the these projects is going on as scheduled.
Alhaji Rabilu said, amidst his colleagues at the Jabi Motor Park that, there is no doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari is a saviour of the Transportation sector. He said many stretches of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zariya-Kano carriageway have been completed and opened for use by motorists.
He said the travel time between Abuja-Kaduna-Zariya-Kano has been shortened, and that he and other frequent players of that route now spend less on repairs and there is a clear reduction in accidents on the route.
I then drew his attention to the fact that some of the infrastructure projects, especially the modernisation and expansion of the railways, the shiny Chinese-style terminals in some major airports, power projects and even the Abuja-Keffi-Makurdi highway dualisation, are being financed through loans, he said that is fine because the borrowed money is being applied to enhance the safety and general well-being of Nigerians.
Indeed, those who benefit most in terms of the physical end products of those loans, the ordinary citizens of this country, applaud the Buhari administration for doing exactly what it said it will do with the borrowed money.
In essence, the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government is doing the right thing in the right way with the concessionary loans it took from lenders.
The President was quoted in a State House press statement on September 16, 2020 saying: “We have so many challenges with infrastructure. We just have to take loans to do roads, rail and power.”
As we celebrate the 60th anniversary as an independent nation state, we should carefully assess the importance of the task of the provision of infrastructure in the land, regardless of whether the financing is with borrowed money or from the sales of our commodities. It is noteworthy that Nigeria has one of the best and most extensive road network in Africa.
The president was upbeat on the future of the country, and expressed delight that Nigerians have gone back to agriculture: “We are lucky we went back to the land. We eat what we produce. We are doing our best to secure the country and provide infrastructure for investment to be viable in the country,” he was quoted saying in the State House press release.
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