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Been doing a bit of traveling around Nigeria (more to come), seeing ongoing infrastructure projects. Impressive sights. What I find most intriguing is how unaware people are, even of projects near them. Part of issue is prob that we just have grown up not expecting these things.
There are still people who will argue that nothing is happening re #LagosIbadanRail. For some its partisan blindness (as the Yoruba say, you can't wake a man pretending to be asleep).
But for many others its just genuine disbelief. Because they haven't seen it, it can't exist.
But for many others its just genuine disbelief. Because they haven't seen it, it can't exist.
Another striking thing is THE SHEER SCALE of what needs to be done. Even after Buhari's 8 years,even with all the focus on #Infra, there will still be a lot to be done. Because for much of the time in our history(when we had money!) we didn't do these things. The DEFICIT is much.
Nigeria is said to have about 35,000km of Federal Roads. FEDERAL alone o. Much of it built in the 1970s, much of it in disrepair. The ones that are just being built, like Second Niger Bridge and Bodo-Bonny Road, have been conceived for decades. But we have to start somewhere.
The PMB commitment to completing inherited infrastructure projects is extremely pleasing -- even in the face of the 'what have you started?' taunts. Its largely because of those taunts that many Govts in Nigeria have fallen for the lure of 'let's start OUR OWN'. Which is silly!
I also now have a much better view of just how challenging infra can be in Nigeria. When it's time to pay compensation for land that's when ancestral shrines will start showing up all over the land. LMAO. Funny but not funny. If its not shrines then its nonsense litigation.
