What manner of yuletide amid kidnapper-infested, devastated highways?

As a country, Nigeria excels in superlative description of self. If an average Nigerian, especially those who steal from the common pot, is not telling you that the country is the most populous black nation in the world, he is telling that it is the largest economy in Africa.

It is, indeed, a fad in the country for even individuals and institutions to ascribe big names or qualify themselves in superlative terms with little or no consideration for the implications, demands and even moral burden such epithets or labels place on their shoulders.

So, Nigeria is the big brother in Africa with the largest economy on the continent. When its economy was rebased in 2014, it was valued at $510 billion, putting it ahead of South Africa which, in real terms, is the largest and best managed economy on the continent.

But Nigeria is a lame-duck even with largest economy in Africa and its 200 million population. The country has very disquieting statistics that belie its acclaimed status on the continent. For its large-size population, Nigeria has no house for its citizens; no electricity to power its economy and, above all, no roads to walk or drive on.

With about 198,000 kilometres network of roads, Nigeria has the largest road network in West Africa and second largest in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Only 2,627 kilometres of these roads are dualised.

Roads in the country are owned by the three tiers of government. Approximately 18 percent is by the federal government, 16 percent by the state governments while 66 percent is owned by local governments. That is, however, not the road story in the country.

The story, instead, is that the condition of these roads is so poor that only about 35 percent of the network is motorable. “And that is the crux of the matter,” noted Camillus Okon, a social affairs commentator, who also expressed worry over the level of insecurity on the nation’s highways.

“For want of better words, the state of Nigerian roads can best be described as deplorable and it is a national shame and embarrassment. Whether you are talking about Trunk A roads which are federal, or Trunk B which are state roads or Trunk C roads which are local government roads, all are just bad,” Okon said.

All over the country, federal roads have become highways to hell where people get killed or kidnapped for either ransom or death or both. Highways such as Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Ibadan-Akure Road; Shagamu-Ore, Enugu-Onitsha Road, Enugu-Port Harcourt Road, Abuja-Lokoja Road and several others have become nightmares to people who use them.

Only two months to Christmas, travelers are already having ugly experiences on the roads. Abuja-Kogi-Lokoja Road particularly has become a metaphor for insecurity. Every traveller that uses that road would have his heart in his hands till the journey is concluded.

The Abuja-Kaduna highway is also unsafe for travelers. Even though this has the advantage of boosting the newly introduced rail system on that route, that road captures everything wrong with a nation that thrives by the riverside yet washes its hands with spittle.

The condition of roads in the South Eastern part of Nigeria is even worse. According to Ejike Anyaduba, a public affairs analyst, whether it is a bumpy ride on Enugu-Onitsha or Enugu-Port Harcourt, Aba-Owerri, Aba-Port Harcourt, Aba-Umuahia, etc, the truth is that no federal road in the zone is in good condition.

He said that the deterioration of the roads has now reached a critical stage where people can no longer understand why they should still be paying tax to the government. Temper is running high because people’s patience, like a taut muscle, has been stretched to its limit.

“What is more, everybody in authority is now an accursed of the people. Even the sane minds, blinded by anger and frustration, find it rather difficult to make a clear distinction on who to blame on the matter,” Anyaduba noted.

In the South Western part of the country where Lagos is the centre of virtually everything, the condition of the roads is not any better. The Lagos-Badagry Expressway stands out as the shame of a nation. This expressway is very strategic economically as it is a gateway to Nigeria’s West Coast neighbours. It is a major aide to regional trade and commerce. But the expressway is a nightmare.

It is unfortunate that of the country’s nearly 200,000 kilometres roads network, only 15 percent is paved which is far behind Malaysia’s 80 percent and 13 percent in Ethiopia.

“Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Malaysia are ranked as the 27th, 32nd and 66th largest countries in the world by landmass. Though the data is inconclusive, one would imagine that larger countries would have more roads – and more paved roads,” noted Martha Sambe writing on ‘Rethinking Roads in Nigeria’.

For Nigeria’s failure to pave its roads and secure them for travelers, there are consequences which Sambe says is the danger it poses to human lives. As the Christmas approaches, government should spare no efforts in terms of resources and time to secure the roads for travelers.

This has become necessary because, according to Sambe, “while numerous causal factors are at play, frequent road travellers would finger the deplorable state of Nigerian roads as chief among them.”

Herdsmen still on the prowl

Since the murder of Funke Olakunrin in July this year by suspected killer herdsmen, Nigerians have been celebrating a somewhat respite in the senseless attacks on innocent travellers, especially on highways across the country.

For many observers, one of the reasons for the respite in the attacks may be fear of reprisal attacks in the South Western Nigeria by the Odua People’s Congress (OPC), because the late Funke was the daughter of Reuben Fasoranti, chairman of Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation.

“It seemed the death made the leadership of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria to ask its members to retreat across the country as tension was so high then and could lead to reprisal attacks. But the herders seem to be back now”, an observer, who pleaded anonymity, said.

In line with the observer, AkinloyeOjolanre, a community leader in Ekiti State, explained that the ceaseless deaths also resulted in the formation of local vigilance groups by communities to protect themselves as they feared that government response would come late.

Others think that the offering of grazing reserves to the herders did the magic. But Mathias Terfa, a Benue State indigene, who grew up and still lives in Kaduna, thinks that the herdsmen will not restrict their movements to grazing reserves because they see nomadic life as a cultural heritage.

“For me, the only way to get them organised in a grazing reserve is to convince their leadership and show an example of what they can benefit from staying in a place instead of roaming across the country to rear their cattle”, Terfa said.

He also explained that since nomadic life is cultural to the Fulani, it would take a strong Fulani to convince his kinsmen on the trend in cattle rearing globally.

Probably, that was what Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State, sensed when he took the leadership of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria in the state to Denmark for two weeks to understudy the ultramodern, all-inclusive, more lucrative and peaceful Danish cattle rearing model.

“The nerves are calmed in Kaduna now because herders are now being encouraged to learn the modern way. It will be difficult for those herders to leave nomadic life, though El-Rufai is a strong governor, he can enforce it and nothing will happen”, he said.

It would be recalled that at the height of herdsmen attacks and controversies trailing RUGA, Governor El-Rufai signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Arla Foods International, a Denmark company, to flag off a modern livestock production model in the country and to boost dairy production starting with one of the 15 grazing reserves in the state.

At the MoU signing, the governor said: “Our hope is that what we started with Arla leading to the development of the grazing reserve in Kubau Local Government; and we want to develop jointly with them, and will show the itinerant nomadic herdsmen that it is possible to engage in modern livestock production without having to go up and down the country.

“We want to show that it is possible for livestock production to be a business rather than a culture or habit or lifestyle but something that can empower and enrich our herdsmen and women”.

Apart from Kaduna State, the Central Bank of Nigeria has commenced a flagship partnership on livestock development initiative in Bobi Grazing Reserve in Niger State. The reserve is one of 26 grazing reserves in the state with a land area of 31,000 hectares, about 700 families and 300,000 heads of cattle resident on it.

At the flagoff, Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, noted that Friesland Campina WAMCO and Neon Agro agreed to take 10,000 hectares of land each, while Chi Limited and Irish Dairy are to develop 4,000 hectares each while the State Government retained the remaining 3,000 hectares for its development programmes. The CBN, according to him, will support and integrate smallholders, subsistent and nomadic herdsmen through its Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) to boost livestock production.