The pot-holes, oh my God! are like the sizes of big basins. Some are totally damaged and yet on the news you'll hear them say "the Nigerian government is working", but I don't seem to see any work, only if I have issues with my eyes which of course I do not!
Travelling is one of my hobbies and to me, you don't get the 'fun' when travelling by air so I travel more by road. But these days, the journey ain't making sense no more, it has been really uncomfortable for me. Because of what, you say?? THE ROAD. The extent at which my body aches at the end of the journey is appalling!
An encounter I had in the last 3 weeks really made me zero my mind about Nigerian roads.
In the past 3 weeks now, I travelled from the North to the South-western region of the country and back.
I travelled to Lagos by road and the story of that journey is 'bitter sweet'. Bitter in the sense that the journey was annoying and stressful and sweet in that I enjoyed my journey because I love travelling. Travelling to Lagos from Kano by road is one hell of a journey and I'm gonna break my pity story into 3 parts.
Travelling is one of my hobbies and to me, you don't get the 'fun' when travelling by air so I travel more by road. But these days, the journey ain't making sense no more, it has been really uncomfortable for me. Because of what, you say?? THE ROAD. The extent at which my body aches at the end of the journey is appalling!
An encounter I had in the last 3 weeks really made me zero my mind about Nigerian roads.
In the past 3 weeks now, I travelled from the North to the South-western region of the country and back.
I travelled to Lagos by road and the story of that journey is 'bitter sweet'. Bitter in the sense that the journey was annoying and stressful and sweet in that I enjoyed my journey because I love travelling. Travelling to Lagos from Kano by road is one hell of a journey and I'm gonna break my pity story into 3 parts.
•The first part of my pity story was when we got to Edo state, Ibilo to be precise. All I noticed was that the road ahead was totally blocked, but luckily for us, the villagers there had created another road, those people are awesome and ought to be appreciated for such a beautiful work well done. The road created was sort of narrow and when it got to a point, we all had to alight from the car, trek some distance forward before hopping into the car again. Thank God for new and good tyres.
•The second part of my pity story, however was on the way from Ibilo, Edo State heading to Owo, Ondo state. This was the most annoying part of the journey. FERMA (Federal Road Maintenance Agency) agents were working with their hands, with just few crude equipments, and that aside, they also lacked the sense of organisation. On getting closer to them, a truck was dropping gravels that would be used to fill the road, and after depositing the gravels, the truck just left, not even bothering to spread the gravels and pave way for other commuters. As soon as the truck took its leave, the FERMA agents started to spread the gravels deposited with their bare hands and one of them was busy taking pictures that I was sure we would end up seeing on the news with "Federal government is working" OR "Ibilo-Owo road to be opened in a fortnight's time!". They don't seem to understand that Nigerians are not stupid. By the way, the traffic was starting to build up and they were still working with their hands.
Shortly after, the 'men in camo' passed by and instead of them to even try and control the traffic, they, being their bossy selves created a way and zoomed off.
•The last part of my pity story was when we got to a particular point, some guys stopped us and told us to pay before we could continue our journey. My mum brought out the normal #50, and they said they couldn't collect it because they were the ones getting all the resources needed to fix the road themselves and working on it, so it was either we gave them #100 or we went back. We finally paid and we continued our journey, encountered traffic jams at different point till we finally got to Lagos!
Corruption is now the order of the day in this country. The amounts allocated to the Ministry of transport are going into people's stomach and not the road.
It would be really cool if our leaders and even Mr. President himself travel by road to different parts of the country and see what Nigerians are going through. Roads such as the one along Ekiti State, the one that links Kano to Kaduna, the one linking Ibilo, Edo State to Owo, Ondo State, as well as the road along Plateau state. If the leaders travel through these paths and experience what an average Nigerian experiences every now and then, only then would they actually know what to do.
•The second part of my pity story, however was on the way from Ibilo, Edo State heading to Owo, Ondo state. This was the most annoying part of the journey. FERMA (Federal Road Maintenance Agency) agents were working with their hands, with just few crude equipments, and that aside, they also lacked the sense of organisation. On getting closer to them, a truck was dropping gravels that would be used to fill the road, and after depositing the gravels, the truck just left, not even bothering to spread the gravels and pave way for other commuters. As soon as the truck took its leave, the FERMA agents started to spread the gravels deposited with their bare hands and one of them was busy taking pictures that I was sure we would end up seeing on the news with "Federal government is working" OR "Ibilo-Owo road to be opened in a fortnight's time!". They don't seem to understand that Nigerians are not stupid. By the way, the traffic was starting to build up and they were still working with their hands.
Shortly after, the 'men in camo' passed by and instead of them to even try and control the traffic, they, being their bossy selves created a way and zoomed off.
•The last part of my pity story was when we got to a particular point, some guys stopped us and told us to pay before we could continue our journey. My mum brought out the normal #50, and they said they couldn't collect it because they were the ones getting all the resources needed to fix the road themselves and working on it, so it was either we gave them #100 or we went back. We finally paid and we continued our journey, encountered traffic jams at different point till we finally got to Lagos!
Corruption is now the order of the day in this country. The amounts allocated to the Ministry of transport are going into people's stomach and not the road.
It would be really cool if our leaders and even Mr. President himself travel by road to different parts of the country and see what Nigerians are going through. Roads such as the one along Ekiti State, the one that links Kano to Kaduna, the one linking Ibilo, Edo State to Owo, Ondo State, as well as the road along Plateau state. If the leaders travel through these paths and experience what an average Nigerian experiences every now and then, only then would they actually know what to do.
I'd like to know your experiences with Nigerian road. No matter how short your journey has been. And to my non-Nigerian readers, I would also like for you to comment about the road issues in your country.
Peace!!
Peace!!
¤Adeyemo Toluwanise Precious
No comments:
Post a Comment