ORE-BENIN ROAD: A METAPHOR FOR A FAILED SOCIAL CONTRACT 30102006

It is no longer news that about a twenty kilometer stretch of road between Ofosu and Okada on the Ore-Benin Express in Edo State has completely failed.  The print and electronic media have done a good job of bringing notice of this social and economic tragedy to the attention of the nation.  Regrettably, incessant and elaborate as the media reports may be, the sad news is that those public officials, particularly in the Federal Ministry of Works, to whom the message is directed have responded as if the media has been conducting a monologue with a deaf and blind community!

Those Nigerians who are not familiar with the Ore-Benin express road may not be aware of the critical significance of this transport artery in our daily lives, but suffice it is to note that between 5000 – 10,000 private and commercial vehicles ply this road every day, as they move people and vital foodstuff, consumer and industrial goods between the cities and rural areas within the six geopolitical regions in the country.  It is partly in recognition of the significance of this vital route that Edo State was christened the “Heartbeat of the Nation”.  In other words, any failure of this transport hub will have negative ripples on the prices of foodstuffs in the markets and stimulate an inflationary spiral, and cause severe discomfort and stress for the road users.  The chaotic traffic jam will also challenge the performance and facilitate the depreciation of the large percentage of 2nd and 3rd hand tokunbo vehicles which the senseless devaluation of the naira in the last 20 years has made the portion of our people. The end product of this matrix on the Ore-Benin Road is a harvest of pain, stress and suffering galore as a journey that would normally take less than 20 minutes becomes a nightmare of anything from 4-8 hours detour to avoid the 20 kilometre stretch of failed road.

There are probably not more than six spots on the 20 kilometres that have become gullies deep enough to swallow a standard private car and cause serious damage to the axles of trailers and tankers, whose drivers may have been driven by frustration to attempt a crossing; but the disruption to the free flow of traffic is starkly evident in the stationary queue of countless trailers, tankers, luxurious buses and private vehicles on both shoulders of this vital expressway.  The hopeless and helpless countenances of thousands of Nigerians including pregnant women and babies who have been detained uncomfortably against their will in both rain and shine, and fumes from the exhaust of diverse vehicles all paint a sad picture of a flock of sheep without a shepherd. 

Classical philosophy describes the relationship between the state and its citizens as that of a social contract in which the individual subsumes his own right for unbridled freedom under the wider umbrella of self determination of the state to which the individual belongs.  In return for the rights so alienated, the individual expects the state to provide him with security and an enabling environment that would support his daily efforts at making a living.  In addition, the individual agrees to be law abiding and pay taxes, levies and duties to the state so that various infrastructure and services can be put in place to facilitate the sustenance and self-actualization of its citizens through gainful employment or other form of agricultural, commercial and industrial endeavours.

Today’s reality in our country raises many questions with regard to the equity of our social contract with the Nigerian government.  Nigerians all over the country cannot sleep with both eyes closed.  The feeling of insecurity is pervading as the police appear incapable of protecting the citizens.  Our country’s Attorney General amongst other notable political figures have been brutally murdered inside and outside their homes, while the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are yet to be apprehended.  Thus, the hope of the common man for  protection and justice becomes dim, if the movers and shakers of our society can be disposed of without any repercussions or committed attempt to avert reoccurrences.

Majority of Nigerian children are destined to graduate from schools where teachers have become hawkers of textiles and consumer goods, often smuggled through our porous borders.  Private primary and secondary schools which demand fees that over 90% of Nigerian families cannot pay from their official salaries have sprung up everywhere with the children of the public officials, who are supposed to facilitate the public education system as the captive students of these private institutions!

Hospitals and health care delivery systems in most parts of the country have become a shadow of institutions that can perform such services satisfactorily.  Over 54% of Nigerians live on less than $1 a day, according to official statistics and many die because they cannot afford the N500 – N1,000 required to procure anti malarial and typhoid medication!  Meanwhile, our public servants are flown abroad at great expense (flight tickets alone may cost over N300,000) to seek medical treatment.  Even where Nigerian graduates and school leavers have shown an abiding desire to work, the jobs are not available and unemployment continues to rise with the privatization exercise throwing more Nigerians into the labour market without a social security net!

The advent of democracy inspired a lot of hope that Nigerians will now be able to vote for their leaders rather than condone leadership forced on them through the barrel of the gun.  The abracadabra that threw up the questionable election results of the last two civilian elections, particularly in 2003 has dashed the hopes of Nigerians who expected democracy to usher in transparency and accountability.  Infrastructure, particularly, our power generating and distribution capacity has worsened rather than improved in the last seven years with disastrous consequences for industry, employment and international trade competitiveness.  Over N300bn allocated for the rehabilitation of roads and the improvement of the road transport network including the Benin-Ore road, about three years ago, has not impacted in any meaningful way on the transport system.  

Our local currency, the naira, has against reasonable expectations, depreciated from N80=$1 when we had less than $5bn reserves nine years ago to an inexplicably low value of N128=$1, inspite of reserves of almost $40bn and over 30 months imports cover!  Meanwhile, our government, according to the CBN Governor continues to spend over N75bn every six months as interest payments on its treasury bills and bonds, which it sells to the capital market to mop up ‘excess’ money from the system, and yet salaries and allowances of some teachers, pensioners and civil servants remain unpaid!

In the face of all the above anomalies, contradictions and unfulfilled expectations, a growing number of Nigerians have lost faith in the Nigerian nation, and wonder whether we can liberate our people from the clutches of poverty if we cannot bring this about in the midst of the benevolent endowment of nature and an all time high foreign reserve base.  The fact that the government allowed the Ore-Benin road to inflict such pain on our people for over three months, some claim, is a symptom of a failed nation!