By Ben Agande
There is no gainsaying that the state of infrastructure in the country is nothing to write home about. From  hospitals to  airports, most of the nation’s critical infrastructure are begging for urgent attention and possible rehabilitation.

But nothing demonstrates the decay in our infrastructure than the state of our federal highways. From Kano to Lagos, Maiduguri to Port Harcourt, there is hardly any highway in the country that one can conveniently drive on for five kilometres without encountering potholes.

The state of our roads is so bad that when the President of the Senate, David Mark, is to visit his country home in Otukpo, he sometimes resorts to  the use of the  chopper rather than bear the harrowing experience of  travelling on Otukpo-Makurdi  Road.

Sadly, what successive governments have done in addressing this problem is anything but serious. The establishment  of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency  (FERMA) to ensure regular maintenance of federal roads has not helped matters as the  agency has become grossly ineffective. Incredibly,  FERMA  gives more contracts for the clearing of bush along federal highways than filling potholes that have taken over our roads!

Nothing demonstrates government’s insincerity in tackling this challenge than the paltry budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Works as well as  FERMA  in  the 2012 Appropriation Bill.

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Works, Hon. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, summed up the frustration of Nigerians when he told the Minister of Works during the budget defence hearing of the ministry: “Nigerians are worried about the deplorable condition of Nigeria’s roads and expectations are high that the government will do everything humanly possible to ensure that the dilapidated nature of road infrastructure is redressed.

The committee has observed that the provision of N126 billion as capital proposal for the ministry of work is grossly inadequate to address the situation. We believe that what the situation requires is a bold and unequivocal demonstration of determination by government to address the situation. The provision of N126 billion appears not to demonstrate that determination.”

For a country that has budgeted almost  N1 billion   for  feeding in the President’s office while at the same time spending rather obscene amount of money to build houses for its officials, the paltry allocation to the Ministry of Works, which is in charge of the country’s road infrastructure,  is a pointer to   what the government is doing in terms of improving the deplorable state of our roads. It is simply   paying lip service to the problems.

By their cars you shall know them Nigerians have a worldwide reputation as lovers of automobile. It is said that as soon as a car comes out of the production line, you are bound to find it in Nigeria.

But no place in Nigeria demonstrates Nigerians’ love for automobile than the National Assembly where all manner and brand of cars are on parade at the exclusive car parks for the  legislators. From the latest model of Honda to the latest model of Toyota cars, the legislators’ car park looks like an auto shop for choice cars.

The preference for which model of car, curiously, has a geographical dimension to it.  Where a particular legislator hails from,  to a large extent,  determines the kind of car he is likely to have. For instance, while the member of the House of Representatives from the far northern part of the country is more likely to drive the latest model of Honda cars, the legislator from the South East is most likely to be seen with Toyota Land Cruiser four wheel vehicle and the legislator from the South South is likely to be seen driving a BMW or Mercedes Benz equivalent.

Though the case of the former member of the House,  who had many exotic cars in his garage with specialised numbers to butt was an extreme case of automania, the penchant for legislators to buy exotic cars has further reinforced the feeling among Nigerians, rightly or wrongly, that  if they do  not have so much money, the legislators would not have been spending so much in acquiring exotic cars when their constituents can hardly afford decent food to eat.