The reader may have a different frame of mind regarding the meaning of “project,” but for this article, “project” stands for an enterprise purposely planned to achieve a particular objective. This article intends to focus on civil engineering projects, which the dictionary refers to as the erection or construction, extension, alteration, or repair of any work, which technically belongs to the field of civil engineering, including roadworks and the construction of bridges. Although politics may mean activities associated with the governance of a country or area, in everyday life, particularly in Nigeria when people say “politics,” what often comes to mind is deceit, deception, or double-dealing. Only the modest among us see politics as the use of power and social networking within society to achieve changes that benefit the people.
Something pathetic is happening in northern Nigeria, and every time those with the power to address the issue are asked, their responses only make matters worse. While the North is battling with the menace of Boko Haram, the terror of kidnapping and banditry has also emerged. This adds to the struggles of people who have long been living in partnership with poverty. The perplexing part of the North’s misery is that the only road access it has for reaching out to the rest of the country in search of relief — the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road — has been put on an indefinite life-support service.
I say life support because the road work is supposed to be an engineering project initiated by the Buhari administration in 2017 or 2018, with a completion period of three years, which ordinarily should have finished by 2020. But we are now approaching 2025, and the story keeps changing for the worse. In fact, unlike life support, where a patient is kept under various medical procedures to keep them alive until the body can take over again, the people in the North have been kept permanently in suspense regarding the fate or destiny of this vital road. So, it’s even more like a lifeless support.
While the importance of the road, as the major source of sustenance for the North, cannot be overemphasized, its steady suffocation by criminals living off kidnapping and ransom adds insult to injury. To worsen an already bad situation, on Thursday in Abuja, the Minister of Works, David Umahi, announced that the Federal Government has revoked the section of the Abuja-Kaduna highway contract being handled by Julius Berger. According to the minister, the revocation was necessary because the contractor, Messrs Julius Berger, is “playing politics with the project.” Playing politics with a project that is the lifeline of a segment of the country? Nothing can be more pathetic, particularly when viewed through the lens of the number and quality of casualties recorded on the road.
Unlike life support, which supports a failing body function, one would have thought that the government would provide an acceptable and instantaneous alternative to bring relief to the nightmare of this endless project. Yes, they said the contract would be re-awarded to more serious contractors, but what happens in the interim? The people of this region need an alternative, as in the case of life support, which functions until the body can resume normal operations.
In its editorial of Thursday, 17/10/24, Daily Trust appealed to the government to be decisive on the Abuja-Kaduna Highway. The paper stated, “With the Kaduna-Lagos Road, through Birnin Gwari, in deplorable condition and largely under the control of non-state actors, the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway is practically the only one that serves as the major artery for the movement of people, food items, and other goods, especially from the Northwest to the South and other parts of the country.”
If the objective of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano project is to ease the transportation burden of the North, I am afraid it’s looking like an enterprise that can be called “dead on arrival.” The planned objective is being achieved in reverse. And sadly, as stated by the Minister, a politician, the problem is politics. People are playing politics with the project. Who are these people? Are they the kidnappers, insurgents, and bandits masquerading as politicians, or simply another group of unknown powerful individuals?
In blaming the work delay on the contractor, the government or the minister used terms like “review,” “alteration,” “erection,” and “extension,” along with many other technical words that only succeeded in confusing everyone. The major ambition of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as explained by the Renewed Hope Agenda, is to reposition Nigeria as a prime global investment destination by growing the economy, lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, and creating an enabling environment.
With the bulk of Nigeria’s poverty-stricken population living in the North, the best way to achieve this is by repositioning the North for this challenging task. That way, the government can avoid accusations of deceit, deception, or double-dealing.