For clarity, roads are necessary but must be treated like investments. Roads are the central nervous system of an economy if they are carefully planned. The main reason why people move from one place to another is to perform economic activities directly or indirectly. Roads are time decay networks because time is money. Are Nigerian roads tied to the idea of creating the shortest path to meeting economic needs that are urgent? How is urgency determined? Which should come first, the roads or economic activities?
A road linking existing economic activities that are already generating income is a worthy investment. The road is time decay network that catalyses growth that is already visible and measurable. Spending 100B to build roads that could generate 100B returns within the road lifetime without requiring additional repairs is what Nigeria needs.
Conversely, building roads on speculative assumptions that they will "open up" growth opportunities in places where very little economic activities are happening is a gamble. The data to justify that speculation is always missing. People put roads to their hometowns, businesses, residential areas, and state capitals to beautify them. The ROI is almost zero in quantifiable terms. This has been the bane of Nigerian roads construction. It is a wasteful venture that needs constant maintenance to justify another wasteful capital allocation. A vicious cycle.
If Nigerian roads are truly useful, where is the data to prove that? Why are places with beautiful roads not economic growth points? Where is the revenue, jobs, associated infrastructure, and growth data that are exclusively attributable to our aggregate spending on roads across the country?
Until road construction is data driven. Until they have clear and measurable ROI before maintenance. Until roads are accurately built without inflating the actual construction costs, they will continue to be useless investments. Roads are the most dangerous money pits that politicians have identified in Nigeria while cars are increasingly becoming unaffordable. This is the Nigerian development paradox.