His Grace Most Rev. Samuel Abidoye
His Grace Most Rev. Samuel Abidoye
By His Grace Most Rev. Dr. S.A. Abidoye
The Government needs to act fast, and the time is NOW. Nigeria’s economy depends on movement of people and goods all around the country. Even the Oil we depend on for survival is transport from one point to another during processing and after. In developed countries pipes are used to move oil and gas around, even in home supplies. But on the contrary, Nigeria depends on trailers to move goods around on the road, including oil, gas, and agricultural produce. They all depend on road transportation, therefore, majority of our roads are overused.
The worst thing is that we never bothered to repair most of such roads. One of them can be found in Kwara State. The road actually links many States. Such States include Kaduna, Kogi, Niger, and we know that the road passes the River Niger at Jebba Town. The present condition of this road means that the North is cut off because it is quite bad at the moment. If you are a user of roads for travelling, many major roads in this country are no more motorable in many places. If you have to go to the North from the South, you may have to go through Lokoja, because it is more or less the only road remaining to link the regions. This road, too, requires urgent and immediate attention. If the Government fails to take immediate action, the promise of Change by it will have no meaning to the citizens.
If the roads are so bad, and the railways are not accessible, the next thing is to turn to Airlines, unfortunately, travelling by air is very costly. There are very few airline operators, so the price is so high that only very few people could regularly patronise it. The Government cannot force the Airlines to reduce their prices because Nigeria as a Country has no national airline to help her teaming population. The road belonging to the Federal Government is not taken care of like countries surrounding us. Other Countries take better care of their citizens than Nigeria. I believe they do that because they have citizens who are so rich that the country is afraid of them. Nigeria may be the only country in Africa at the moment, where a single woman is richer than the Government. Thanks to God, our President, Muhammadu Buhari, has promised to help us handle some of these problems. Meanwhile, because of bad roads, the airline operators keep smiling to the bank.
To add insult to injury, passengers often have to endure delayed flights “due to operational reasons.” Sometimes, the delay may be up to three hours or more, at the waiting lounges where chairs are not available to sit on. Worst of all, you might have been waiting for over two or three hours, only to be told that your flight has been cancelled. If the airline is “kind,” they may apologise for cancelling the flight; however, expect no compensation. In some other cases, those at the counters will simply pack their bags and disappear.
As a result of the poor state of our roads, I had been forced many times, to make most of my journeys by Air. I may be wrong, but I believe Arik Airlines has more planes than her competitors. I want to advise the owners of the planes to provide suitable places of rest for local travellers, as are provided for people travelling out of the country. At Abuja Airport, we can all see the gigantic constructions going on; nevertheless, there should suitable toilets and sitting places for travellers, especially for pregnant mothers, young children and old people. This is especially necessary at Abuja, where Ark Air appears to be so much on the ground. Also, urinating virtually anywhere in towns should be discouraged, while public toilets should be provided for the citizens.
At motor parks in the big towns, the local government authorities should kindly provide suitable toilets and maintain it. That does not mean that it should be free, as Nigerians always misuse free things. A little token could be collected from users, which would in turn be used to pay those taking care of it. I want to declare, Let there be comfort for rich and the poor in this country. The Buhari government’s promised change should be for the poor people of our country, among whom poverty is so endemic. Nigerians are waiting eagerly for those promised changes that the present government pledged. May God bless our nation, Nigeria.