P erhaps one of the major undoing of President Muhammadu Buhari is his somewhat nonchalant disposition to his traducers and critics, who are attempting to label him a nonperforming leader.

It is only when some of his lieutenants take time out to enumerate and elucidate some of the notable achievements, they have recorded that it becomes obvious that the Nigerian leader, has indeed, written his name on the sand of time with some signature infrastructure developments undertaken by his administration.

That was exactly what the former Lagos State governor and Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, did recently when he encapsulated the array of work done by his ministry in a compendium tagged ‘PMB Administration Scorecard 2015-2023 – A Time and Economic Resource Report.

Not only did this document juxtapose work done with money expended, it also went the extra mile to create an overview of the government’s income during the period under review and how resources were managed to maximise deliverables.

Hundreds of roads, bridges, and houses were constructed and built during the neareight- year tenure of President Buhari, with a budgetary allocation of N1.5 trillion.

And with N964.8 billion already released and N619.3 billion outstanding, very remarkable aspects of the scorecard are the details of the spillover effects of the massive government investment on infrastructure, especially, as it improves human capacity development and the consequential empowerment of the Nigerian populace. Between 2016 and 2022, a total of 8,352.94km of roads were constructed or rehabilitated.

To achieve this, a total number of 339,955 jobs directly related to the project were created. Not only that, with tonnes of cement used totaling N1,652,190.22, diesel (N1,002,026,851.29), bitumen (N3,371,136.57), petrol (N51,716,271.07), fine aggregate sand (N18,515,735.06), coarse aggregate/gravel (N40,881,234.03) and reinforcement put at 512,505.20, several hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs were created.

Though Buhari’s political opponents may choose to ignore these notable feats, the fact is, businesses, workers, artisans, and even petty traders, have all benefitted from the numerous projects spread across the country. Still, on the job creation opportunities created by the federal government expenditure on road infrastructure, a whopping 2,990 technical staff were required for the 130 contractors’ laboratories spread across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria.

There are 15 of the laboratories in the North-Central; 11 in the North-East; 45 in the North-West; 10 in the South-East; 12 in the South-South and 37 in the South-West. These laboratories departmentalised into soil laboratories, asphalt and bitumen laboratories, concrete and aggregate laboratories, steel laboratories, and chemistry laboratories, are saddled with the responsibilities of ensuring that materials used on the projects meet the specified standard and guarantee durability requirements.

To really understand the effects of government infrastructure development, it is best to take a closer look at the impact analysis on the underlisted completed road rehabilitation projects: Lafia-Obi-Awe- Tunga road, Nasarawa State; Vandeikya- Obudu Cattle Ranch road (Phase I) Cross Rivers State; Hadejia-Nguru Road (Phase II), Kirikasama-Nguru road, Jigawa State; Nguru-Gashua-Bayamari (Phase I) – Nguru- Gashua (phase II), Yobe State and Nguru- Gashua-Bayamari (Phase II) (Gashua- Bayamari).

There is the dualisation of Kano-Maiduguri road linking Kano-Jigawa-Bauchi-Yobe and Borno states; Completion of Gombe- Numan-Yola Road (Phase II and Gombe Kaltungo, Gombe State; dualisation of Kano-Maiduguri road linking Kano-Jigawa- Bauchi-Yobe and Borno states (Section III Azare-Potiskum, Bauchi State; rehabilitation of section IA of Sokoto-Tambuwal- Jega-Kontagora-Makera road (Phase I and II) in Sokoto to Kebbi/Niger states; construction of Nnenwe-Uduma-Uburu road (Section I 26.2km and Section II: spur to Ishiagu-Mile 2 road – 14km in Enugu/Ebonyi states; construction of Isoko Ring road, Delta State and the rehabilitation of Efon Alaaye-Erinmo- Iwaraja road in Ekiti/Ondo states.

Collectively, these roads span 896.187km and were sources of concern for commuters, but after rehabilitation and construction, travel time was reduced by 56.20 per cent and cost, by 56.25 per cent. Therefore, a commute on 84km long Lafia-Obi-Awe-Tunga road, Nasarawa State, which usually took about two hours now takes one hour 30 minutes. It usually took nine hours to travel through the 304km Sokoto-Tambuwal -Jega-Kontagora-Makera road, but that was reduced by half after rehabilitation.

Similar stories go for all the roads. When these indices are spread across all the projects embarked on by the Buhari administration, it is understandable that the ripple effects are monumental and far-reaching on all Nigerian families and businesses. These specific roads created a total of 2,124 and 3,128 direct and indirect jobs respectively.

The Sokoto-Tambuwal-Jega-Kontagora- Makera road, phases I and II in Sokoto and Kebbi states were commissioned on November 25, 2021, at Koko in Koko/Besse Local Government Area of Kebbi State, and this elicited reactions from residents, who are users of the roads. A resident, whose name was simply given as Garba stated: “Before the rehabilitation of the road, it took an average of three hours to drive to Jega from Koko, but that time has now been reduced to 30 minutes… We are now full of joy, and we are grateful to President Buhari.”

Adding his voice, the secretary of the Koko Trailer Drivers Union, Ibrahim Musa, noted that being a driver plying the route himself, the people are deeply touched by the project. “We thank the government greatly for the rehabilitation work and promise to give it our support 100 per cent. Before the rehabilitation of this road, it took us five hours to drive from Jega to Koko and between six and seven hours to Yauri. But it is now 1 hour 30 minutes,” he said.

The Emir of Yauri, His Royal Highness, Dr. Muhammad Zayyanu Abdulahi, stated: “I am indeed grateful to the federal government for initiating and completing the rehabilitation works on this road, which was constructed in the 70s and never received any major rehabilitation attention until the tenure of the Buhari administration.”

Similar encomiums were showered on the government at the commissioning and handover of the Vandeikya- Obudu Cattle Ranch road (Phase I) Cross Rivers State by beneficiaries. A Vandeikya driver, Benjamin Uyeh, had this to say: “The road, before this time, was very bad and our vehicles often broke down and got stuck. Driving along this road was a challenge. For almost ten years, our people suffered on this road due to accidents, breakdowns, and other problems associated with the bad road. But today we are happy that the road has been reconstructed and is very motorable.”

Another commentator from Vandeikya, Elder D.K. Awoyi, added that “the road is very good. We have not had this kind of road before. I commend the contractors that did the job. The federal government should continue giving them contracts. Everything about the road is perfect – drainages, lane markings, and signposts.

This road connects Benue with Cross River State, and it has enhanced the movement of goods, especially, agricultural products, and personnel from the rural areas to the cities.” When the Nnewe-Oduma road was commissioned on December 2, 2021, at Ukete in Oduma Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, several residents expressed delight at government’s initiative, especially, as it impacts their daily lives. “I am very happy concerning the state of this road today.

I grew up in this village in Aninri Local Government of Enugu State. I will say God blessed this village in many ways and with many things, because if you observe very well, you will see that this land is a food basket like its name, Aninri, depicts.

But for many years, one of the challenges of this village was road. “That is why I am very happy today that God has answered our prayer, using President Muhammadu Buhari. I had been residing in Anambra State, where I was doing my business because the condition of this road was very bad and not good for any business. I, however, returned in 2016, when construction work started on this road, and today, we are enjoying it,” Mazi Nkwachukwu Chinweuba, a trader acknowledged.

The Di Ji 1 of Ezines, His Royal Majesty, Eze Daniel Njoku, also said: “I thank Mr. President for the completion of this road, Nnewe-Oduma Road. Every indigene of Oduma could recall that in the past if you wanted to return to Oduma, you would either come by helicopter or if you were coming in your car, you had to park at the neighbouring Nnewe town and complete the journey on Okada.

“During the dry season, while traveling from Oduma, one had to first go to Nnewe on Okada with a spare cloth with which to change on arrival at Nnewe before continuing the journey. But today, this road has brought out Oduma to the limelight.”

At the commissioning of the dualisation of the Kano-Maiduguri road linking Kano- Jigawa-Bauchi-Yobe and Borno States (Section III Azare-Potiskum, Bauchi State, on December 9, 2021, at Azare in Bauchi State, several beneficiaries spoke and one of them was a commuter, Mallam Salisu Ibrahim Azare.

He said: “We suffered on this road before. We can’t even say anything about the difficulties we encountered on this road. It was one lane and in bad shape. We never thought it will be this good now, it’s very fine now and I am very happy every day I ply this road and I come here every morning. Everything about this road, roundabouts, and crossings are good.

People are very happy about the work done. I heard them at different places praising it. It’s one of the roads people are happy with. Many roads passing through Azare and inside Azare town have been reconstructed now with interchange crossings and roundabouts.” The accolades continued on December 13, 2021, at Shuwarin, Jigawa State during the commissioning of the Kano-Maiduguri, section II (Shuwarn-Azare) with a spur from Dutse to Kwanar Huguma in Jigawa State, where the National Assembly member representing Jigawa South-West district, Senator Sabo Muhammed, spoke.

He said: “I want to take this opportunity to commend the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. He has done well with the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who has shown commitment to the administration’s mandate of infrastructure development in the country. This road will stand as a testimony of good governance to members of our community.”

A driver that plies the road, Annur Muhammad also said, “This is my regular route. I frequently ply this Dutse -Maiduguri Road. Eight years ago, this road was a single-lane, and it was an accident-prone road. But since the completion of the dualisation, accidents have been reduced to the barest minimum.

President Muhammadu Buhari is God sent.” Through these projects, the government, without doubt, is putting money in people’s pockets, food on their table, empowering more businesses, especially the farmers, and creating better traveling conditions across the country. It is only fair to acknowledge these laudable achievements of President Buhari.

●Ibrahim, a public affairs analysts writes from Abuja

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