One of the most obvious problems with living and doing business in Nigeria is the poor state of infrastructure in the country. Understandably, most Nigerians see power as the most pressing infrastructural need of the country. However, it can be argued that Nigeria’s most pressing infrastructural need is a robust transportation network – including functional rail, road, water and air systems. Of all these, our roads are arguably the most fundamental.

The poor state of road transportation has led to the loss of billions of naira in economic value as well as thousands of avoidable deaths due to accidents.

Whilst it is well reported that Nigeria has the largest road network in West Africa – 108,000km of surfaced roads (32,000km of which has been built and is managed by the Federal Government), a large-scale independent review of the current state of the country’s road network has been absent.

Nigeria’s most important highways run from South to North. This indicates that there was some planning into the design of the country’s road network. The geographical design of these major highways makes sense considering the main farmlands are located in the Northern states while the major ports are located in the coastal states, which are also the wealthiest and have the highest purchasing power. Basically the roads were designed bring produce from the hinterlands to the coast for export, and also to link the economies of old Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria.

More: https://www.naijiant.com/guestcolumn/roads-enemy-look-state-nigerias-roads/