‘Why government should prioritise railway’

Eyitayo Olaleye

What is your take on the contentious Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway?
I believe the major contention over this highway seems to be the absence of public engagement. Public engagement is an integral part of the planning process. It is important that citizens are carried along in the design and execution of projects. Granted that there is apathy to governments all over the world, however, government has a responsibility to keep the citizenry abreast of their plans and programmes. People are just hearing information about a project that had been awarded and about to take off.

Unfortunately, the messaging was not consistent, giving the impression that the project was not well thought-out and due process was not followed. Either that is the case, or public communication was not well-done. Going by what I read in the papers, I am inclined to believe it is the former. There was a lot of misinformation about the funding model, the route where it will pass, who was awarded the project and whether competitive bidding was done, how much will be charged as tolls, the presence or absence of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, the discovery of submarine cables, etc. This only led to a lot of push-back and did not help drum up support for the project.

Should the government have waited this long for such a project?
There is nothing wrong in providing infrastructure, as they can stimulate economic growth. Recall that the government is expected to create an enabling environment for business. It is the type of infrastructure that is of concern to some transportation professionals like us. I am of the school of thought that believes that our number one priority should be railways, both for freight cargo and people. These are things that could be discussed during robust public engagement sessions which would form part of a feasibility study by professional consultants. The train system is still the cheapest means of transporting people and cargo over long distances. After building the highway, won’t cars run on it? What will propel these cars? Is it not petrol that costs about N700 per litre? How many Nigerians can afford to drive on our roads as they used to? The removal of subsidy should open up increased investments in mass transportation – conveying more people around at a cheaper cost. People around the world are trying to reduce vehicle kilometers travelled and carbon emissions by shifting away from cars, yet we are still building superhighways for internal combustion engine vehicles.

Recall that the long abandoned 1,000km Badagry to Sokoto Road will start soon. I have read that the design for the Lagos to Calabar superhighway has a centre track for railway lines running from one end to another, but in my opinion, that should be the major focus and the unique selling point of the project, and not a 10-lane superhighway.

What does Nigeria stand to gain with the highway?
Ideally, the highway should cut travel time and make transportation of people and goods faster, easier and safer. I read that the 700km road will traverse eight states. This will reduce between 55km to 100 km from the existing alternative routes. It should also open up a lot of settlements along the route it passes through, thereby, boosting economic activities and encouraging tourism. Building the highway itself should create direct and indirect jobs. I was hoping that specifics of these gains would have been reported at the flag-off a few days ago.

Shouldn’t government have taken into consideration the bad roads across country before thinking of a new one?
That is one of my fears. We build roads and do not maintain them. There are so many roads that are bad in the country. I hear that the Benin-Ore-Sagamu Road is still a death trap. The Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi narrated his harrowing experience when traveling from Abuja through Lokoja to Benin last year. There are many roads like that across the country. It would make sense to repair the existing roads first before embarking on this new project. Do you know that the United States was in this same predicament in the 50s? President Eisenhower was responsible for much of the U.S. highway system as we know it today.

They built the highways, while reducing investments in railways. Over time, the railway companies folded up and the highways themselves were not maintained for over 50 years. Now President Biden, after over 50 years of neglect, is making resources available to repair these road infrastructures through various programmes in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. One of these programmes, for example, the Reconnecting Communities Programme seeks to ameliorate the effects of economic inequalities created by some of these roads, as it was discovered that a lot of these highways were intentionally diverted through underrepresented communities and minority neighborhoods. Furthermore, the lack of investment in railways is something the United States is paying dearly for today. They are way behind Europe and Asia when it comes to railways. It is hoped that we learn from these examples and do not make the same mistakes.

Government in Nigeria is known for a lot of abandoned projects. The East West Road in South South is one of such, would it not have been better to complete such projects?
That is a very good idea. Continuity is key. The last administration attempted completing projects of the ante-penultimate administration. It would have been nice if this administration continued from where they left off. For example, in addition to the East-West Road that you mentioned, I understand that the Ibadan to Ilorin Expressway is yet to be completed, especially along the Oyo to Ogbomoso end. The Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road renovation is also ongoing and is expected to be completed by January 2026. I wonder how the Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa-Kainji road is faring.

Going forward, what do you think should be done?
I will return to where I started from – public engagement. Citizen buy-in into projects is very important since you are planning for people and not one or two, you are using their taxpayer funds to execute the project. The government must not only listen, but be seen to be listening to feedback and encourage robust debate and dissenting opinions. It is when all voices are heard and concerns addressed that we can move on with a project. Incidentally, this is one of the tenets of democracy. I would encourage the government to conduct more public engagement to not only tell the citizenry what they plan to do, but to elicit feedback from them. Town Hall meetings, charrettes, walk audits, focus group discussions, and polls are just some of the things that they can do for public engageme Eyitayo Olaleyent.