‘IBB, OBJ responsible for deplorable highways’

By LEKE SALAUDEEN 

Babangida and Obasanjo

Federal Commissioner for Works and Housing in the Yakubu Gowon administration, Alhaji Lateef Okunnu, believes former President Olusegun Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Babangida should be blamed for what he calls criminal neglect of federal highways. He proposes measures for the repairs of the dilapidated roads. LEKE SALAUDEEN met him.

Most of the roads we have in Nigeria today were built during your tenure. How did you achieve this feat?

 When I was appointed Federal Commissioner for Works and Housing in May 1967, the network of the Federal roads at that time called Trunk A roads came up to just about 7,000 miles. When I left the government and the ministry in December 1974, I left behind me a network of roads in various parts of the country measuring well over 20,000 miles.

I met the North-South major highways. Those were Lagos-Ibadan-Jebba-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano to the border with Niger Republic. The second North-South major road was Port Harcourt-Enugu-Oturkpo-Makurdi-Jos-Zaria again to the far North.

I added in my tenure two more North-South highways. These are Warri-Sapele-Benin-Auchi-Kotonkarfe with two-lane dual carriage bridge to what is now Abuja to Kaduna and again to the far north.

The second North-South highway which I left is Calabar-Yola-Maiduguri highway. These are the highways North-South. Of course there is East-West or West-East whichever you call it. There is Abeokuta-Sagamu. The beginning really for the reconstruction of two lane dual carriage Sagamu-Ore-Benin which continued to Onitsha. Then we have Ilorin-Omu Aran to Kabba-Lokoja and again continues to Cameroun’s border. They were part of many roads I left behind. There are other major roads like Sokoto-Kontagora. Many roads were constructed during my tenure linking the capitals and major towns of the new 12 states of the Federation. That was the network in a nutshell that I left in December 1974.

I can also add that when I left in 1974, the roads were, either in terms of construction or rehabilitation, completed or were under execution at the time I left or the rehabilitation or reconstruction were on the board ready to take off. That was the state of Federal roads in December 1974 when I left government.

When you look at the deplorable state of the Federal highways in the country today, how do you feel?

I am very sad, very sad to see today that all these roads are in a state of utter disrepair due to what I will call criminal negligence by all administrations beginning, especially from General Babangida to Chief Obasanjo and may be the tail end part of the regime of General Buhari. I say this because in the mid 70s most, if not all the federal roads, were perfectly in good condition. At that time we employed the highest standard of construction you’ll find anywhere in the world. Most of the roads are crying for reconstruction today not repairs. 

What should be done to correct the sad situation?

What the present administration should do to correct the criminal neglect of past administration  is to go on a programme of massive rehabilitation. While that is going on, they need to start engineering studies of the major roads. That is what I did in my time. 

Who should handle the rehabilitation? 

I will have no quarrel if the agency (FERMA) is equipped to carry out the repairs and rehabilitation because I started direct labour in my time in government. It’s not everything you do in PPP which is now in vogue. 

SOURCE: The Nation Newspaper, September 28 2011.     http://www.thenationonlineng.net