visited the US or lived there, the answer is an obvious No.<\/span><\/p>\n For millions of Nigerians, the terrible state of our roads is such that when you pick your bag to embark on a trip, you must first go on your knees to ask for God\u2019s protection.<\/span><\/p>\n Last month, the World Health Organisation painted a gory picture of the carnage on Nigerian roads. It estimated that over 1.3 million people die annually in road accidents in our country while over 50 million others sustain different degrees of injury from such crashes.<\/span><\/p>\n With such a high casualty rate, the United Nations agency ranked us 191 out of 192 countries in the world with unsafe roads.<\/span><\/p>\n WHO also predicted that if nothing was done by countries such as Nigeria to stem the tide, death by RTA (Road Tranport Accidents) would increase by 65 per cent by 2015\/2020, overtaking malaria and tuberculosis.<\/span><\/p>\n Also in April 2011, the Federal Road Safety Commission described our roads as some of the \u2018most dangerous\u2019 in the world. Its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Osita Chidoka, said even though Nigeria accounts for the least number of vehicles (about seven million) on major high highways in developing countries, it has the highest number of road accident casualties.<\/span><\/p>\n Chidoka also said Nigeria alone contributes 50 per cent of the 1. 3 million deaths annually across the globe as a result of road crashes.<\/span><\/p>\n Sir, these are just a few of the instances of alarming casualty rates.<\/span><\/p>\n In November 2010, the Bauchi Sector Command of the FRSC said about 14 people die on Nigerian roads daily. It also said over 1, 249,713 deaths have been recorded in the country since independence in auto crashes.<\/span><\/p>\n The number, said the command, is \u201cenough to fill 50 football fields to its viewing capacity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n That same month, the Enugu sector command of the FRSC said the road transport system accounted for over 75 per cent of mobility needs in Nigeria.<\/span><\/p>\n Sir, the highly respected former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, also once said Nigeria\u2019s highways were worse than those of war-torn countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/span><\/p>\n He described Nigeria\u2019s roads in these terms while delivering a lecture on, \u2018Capital Waste on Nigerian Roads\u2019. Anyaoku called our roads a \u201chuge slaughter slab, where human lives are worth little or nothing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Just a few days before you dissolved your cabinet, your former Health minister and my kinsman, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said there was a 22 per cent increase in road crashes in Nigeria in the first four months of this year.<\/span><\/p>\n According to Chukwu, an estimated 1,492 people died and 5, 650 were injured due to road crashes in the first 16 weeks of this year, about 274 more than that recorded for the same period last year.<\/span><\/p>\n The casualties, he lamented, had already cost Nigeria 1.3 per cent of its annual Gross Domestic Product.<\/span><\/p>\n Mr. President, don\u2019t you think that the grim situation calls for your quick intervention?<\/span><\/p>\n Sir, since I can\u2019t say when last you made a long trip in Nigeria by road, I strongly suggest you do so by decoy, to appreciate the harsh realities Nigerians are exposed to on our roads daily.<\/span><\/p>\n On August 6, 2007, when the then Minister of Works, Mrs. Dieziani Alison-Madueke, inspected the Ore-Benin Road, she declared, \u201cI cannot understand why it has been allowed to degenerate to this degree over a period of time because this type of degeneration was not done overnight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She did not only promise remedial action, she also tendered an apology to the \u201cwhole country for the deplorable state that we have found this important road.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Mr. President, almost four years after that apology and promise, the sections between Okada and Ore are not much different today.<\/span><\/p>\n We have been told that the rehabilitaion work on the road will be through in November. But what I saw last week when I travelled through the expressway gave no indication that that deadline would be met.<\/span><\/p>\n Federal roads such as Oshodi-Apapa, Lagos- Ibadan, Lokoja-Abuja, Onitsha-Owerri, Onitsha -Enugu, Aba-Ikot-Ekpene-Calabar, Enugu-Abakaliki, Ughelli-Ozoro-Asaba, Lokoja-Makurdi, Owerri-Umuahia and Enugu-Port Harcourt are all in a deplorable state.<\/span><\/p>\n In your inaugural speech on May 29, 2011, you promised to improve the living conditions of Nigerians.<\/span><\/p>\n The carnage on our roads is unacceptable and Nigerians look up to you to do something immediately about the state of the expressways.<\/span><\/p>\n I chose to write you on the state of Nigerian roads because of my strong conviction that it is one of the few issues you should attend to during your tenure.<\/span><\/p>\n In doing this, I tried to study the 2011 budget of the Federal Ministry of Works. What I saw did not give me any hope because, in the N132.79bn, budget, personnel, overhead and reccurent costs total N7.02bn<\/span><\/p>\n This amount (N132. 79bn) will go into about 34 road projects spread across the six geo-political zones of the country. A critical look at the sums allocated to some of the projects seems very, very ridiculous.<\/span><\/p>\n For instance, only N1.05bn was set aside for the dualisation of the Onitsha-Owerri Road and Onitsha Eastern Bypass. By today\u2019s standards, that sum is hardly enough to achieve a job of international standard.<\/span><\/p>\n In Lagos where I reside, the Ikeja Bus stop flyover bridge is listed as one of the projects in the ministry\u2019s budget for this year. As you read this piece, there is no sign of work there.<\/span><\/p>\n To me, the solutions to the poor state of our roads are very simple. I suggest that you do the following.<\/span><\/p>\n You need to muster the political will to make it mandatory for at least two Trunk A roads in each geopolitical zone to be completed or rehabilitated every year during your tenure.<\/span><\/p>\n When political heavyweights, heads of government of different countries and diverse audience gathered in Abuja to witness the inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan on May 29, Mike Odiegwu visited Otuoke, a small town in Ogbia Local Government of Bayelsa State, where the President was born, to gauge the mood of the residents of the sleepy community.<\/span><\/p>\n When Otuoke, a small community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State was founded by a migrant from Benin Kingdom called Oke, the grandson of Oloyi, nobody envisaged that the inconspicuous hamlet would one day find its way to the world map.<\/span><\/p>\n Not even Oke whose name means \u201cbeginning\u201d could predict when great beginning for the community which is surrounded by water would begin.<\/span><\/p>\n But Otuoke (house or family of Oke) has suddenly become the Biblical mustard seed, which has a nucleus beginning when a planted but later grows into a mighty tree with many branches.<\/span><\/p>\n Though one of the smallest communities in Nigeria, it has become the first among others, the pride of the South-South geo-political zone; the envy of other notable cities and the mother of the first citizen of the most populous country in Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n Before now, nobody in Otuoke would have believed that the agrarian community that specialised in the production of plantain and cassava would one day produce Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as the President of Nigeria.<\/span><\/p>\n From one family of Oke, Otuoke has expanded into seven main families consisting of Otamar, Ogbo, Okpuorem, Asuka, Obebhgbolam, Asuka, Eluan and Ebele. Jonathan is from the Ebele Family.<\/span><\/p>\n However, even His Royal Highness, L.J. Ogiasa, the Paramount Ruler of Otuoke never dreamed that the community would attain such lofty height in its short history.<\/span><\/p>\n Little wonder the community of less than 5000 people was agog with celebration on May 29 when Jonathan was inaugurated as the President in an elaborate ceremony that was held at the Eagle Square, Abuja.<\/span><\/p>\n Most of them assembled in beer parlours and other relaxation spots drinking, eating and sharing jokes. Men, women, youths and children leaped for joy in various ways. Through individual and collective efforts, they identified with their shinning son. While some chiefs and opinion leaders relocated temporarily to Abuja, the youths spent the night in the community singing and dancing in a musical show.<\/span><\/p>\n Ogiasa described May 29 as a glorious and joyful day. But he attributed the event of that day to God saying that the making of Jonathan\u2019s presidency was divine.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2018\u2019It is glorious and joyful. In the first place, all the glory should go to the heavenly father. I know that this happening is just a divine one. It is a divine intervention. Without that, even in our dreams, we would not have dreamed that somebody from this place would head the whole nation. That is why I say that it is divine intervention and for that, the entire community, the Ogbia Kingdom in general, my family and I are happy. We all give the glory to our father for making this dream to come true\u2019, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n To Ogiasa, the celebration of Jonathan\u2019s Presidency would go beyond May 29 in the community and in the country. He said that day marked the end of tribal and religious politicking and set off an era of leadership by merit. He recalled that Jonathan alluded to the new dawn when he said that religion and tribe would no longer decide positions in the polity.<\/span><\/p>\n The slow-talking, black-in-complexion monarch was optimistic that Jonathan would deliver. He said his qualities made him stand out from other leaders. According to him, \u2018\u2019He is a godly person who does not look for his own selfish interest. He looks for his interest and those of others. He has grown up with that spirit and it is developing very much in him. I know that he will not allow any negative tendency to influence his administration of the country.\u2019\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n The monarch sounded confident when asked whether Jonathan\u2019s presidency would end the agitation in the Niger Delta. He said, \u2018\u2019Already he has started solving the problems. Even before his inauguration, he has been solving the problem in the Niger Delta. Definitely, now that he has been inaugurated and mandated fully, I know every crisis and agitation will stop. I am quite confident of that.\u2019\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n But he freely offered his fatherly advice to the president. \u2018\u2019All Nigerians were able to give him their votes and so I will advise him not to abuse that privilege. Every Nigerian citizen gave him the mandate and he should try not to disappoint the people. He should try to unite all the people that he is leading. There should be one purpose and one goal in his administration,\u201d he stated.<\/span><\/p>\n He also urged the President not to forget the small community that produced him. But, he acknowledged the efforts of Jonathan in giving the community a facelift.<\/span><\/p>\n