THE Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, recently announced that the Federal Government would build what he described as “superhighways” that would link Abuja to Lagos and Lagos to Port Harcourt. He did not go into the details of the exact structure of the roads, where they will pass through, the cost and more importantly the purpose of the projects.

We wait patiently for further details on this supposedly ambitious project to be disclosed for fuller appreciation and public inputs.

We feel the need to raise issues before the project gets beyond the drawing board because of the lessons learnt from other presidential flights of fancy that either failed or went against the overall national interest. For instance, during the Muhammadu Buhari regime, a grandiloquent plan to construct a “coastal” highway from Lagos through several states in the South-West, South-East and South-South to Calabar in Cross River State was announced.

It turned out that the promise of the highway was a ploy to deflect attention and criticism from Buhari’s selfish and unpatriotic squandering of borrowed funds from China to build a railway from Kano to Maradi in his father’s native country, Niger Republic. Meanwhile, the Eastern railways network which were also begging for attention were ignored.

Let us remind Senator Umahi that his sterling infrastructure performance in Ebonyi State where he was governor for eight years recommended him to President Bola Tinubu for appointment as Works Minister. As an engineer who has distinguished himself as a performer, we expect Umahi to add a quality voice of advice to the president to ensure that projects embraced by the administration will serve higher national interests not base political fancies.

The entire country’s road networks are broken and need attention. It will be a misplaced priority for some regions to be wallowing in muddy, collapsed federal highways while “superhighways” are being constructed to favour a select number of states fancied by the president and his clique.

Instead of superhighways, we prefer that the current federal road network structure should be totally reconstructed. The rail and road networks were designed by the British colonial masters and successive indigenous governments for rapid economic development, national integration and equitable distribution to all constituent parts of the country.

Unfortunately, politicians violated these noble visions and resorted to reviving only Lagos – Kano rail network while abandoning the Eastern network. The construction of superhighways that will also benefit the Western and parts of the South-South flanks of the country is unacceptable. Like the railways, it will also cut off the North-East and South-East.

We should concentrate efforts and resources to first revive the national trunks road network before moving to the next level of linking some privileged cities with superhighways.

Let our decision-makers be properly guided.