Stop traveling by air, go by road so you can see what Nigerians pass through - Former commissioner charges Fashola (Details, pics)

Emmanuel Bello has asked Babatunde Fashola to spend one week just going round various roads in Nigeria so he can see how terrible the roads are- The former commissioner also challenged state governors to stop seeing roads as federal roads; but to come together to fix the bad roads-

According to Bello, the Nigerian government can’t claim to be serious about development until and unless a state of emergency is declared in the road sector

Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works and housing, has been charged by Emmanuel Bello, a former commissioner of information in Kogi state, to stop traveling by air and start going by road instead, in order to ascertain the true state of the roads, The Cable reports. He stated that air travel “has a way of detaching the nation’s policy makers from reality”; hence, they do not feel the pains of millions of ordinary Nigerians who travel by road.

Bello made his comments while speaking with newsmen on Monday, August 14.“I have nothing against air transportation as I use it too. Our political class should do more road transportation. He stated: “I believe our elite don’t feel the pains millions go through daily on the roads.

He stated that air travel “has a way of detaching the nation’s policy makers from reality”; hence, they do not feel the pains of millions of ordinary Nigerians who travel by road.

“I have nothing against air transportation as I use it too. Our political class should do more road transportation.
"In fact, they should patronize public transport from time to time to appreciate the horrors and nightmares called Nigerian roads. “The road from Jalingo to Numan on your way to Gombe, for instance, is a horror flick. “The Minister in charge of the road sector must just find a way to stop flying and start using the roads. I think he should spend a week going round these roads to know what we are talking about. “It is a federal road, but we must forget this thing called federal roads and urge state governments to wade in to reduce the hardship of their people.

"He can’t fix all the roads at once but he should do biometrics of these highways, not just in one part of the country but all over. “I believe the Governors must come together and collaborate on this one too. And we must stop seeing roads as belonging to the federal government.“I think there is even a policy in place where if they fix the so-called federal roads passing through their domains, they get refunded.“At the local government level, efforts must be made to at least grade roads and make life bearable for the farmers and other road users.“We can’t claim to be serious about development until and unless we declare a state of emergency in the road sector.”According to Bello, more attention needs to be focused on refurbishing Nigerian roads because “Nigeria is still a road economy, and we have to conquer the land before colonizing the air”.