While Nigeria boasts of the largest road network in Africa, only about 60,000km out of its estimated 195,000km road network is paved. Some of the roads are either in a state of disrepair, poorly maintained or altogether untarred.
The Road Infrastructure Scheme is a Public-Private Partnership intervention that enables the federal government to leverage private sector capital and efficiency for the construction, refurbishment of critical road infrastructure in key economic areas in Nigeria. Few months after announcing the release of N621 billion to revamp selected Nigerian roads, the company is planning to invest over N1 trillion for a similar purpose. In the first phase, the NNPC was expected to construct a total of 1,804.6 kilometres of roads at a total cost of N621,237,143,897.35, with the North-central getting the highest chunk of N244.87 billion and the South-south emerging the second highest beneficiary of the NNPC roads project with the sum of N172.02 billion.
Also, among the roads visited by Kyari were the one in Niger State where he carried out an assessment of the reconstruction of Bida-Lambata road in the state, with a length 124.81km and the Lagos-Badagry expressway along the Agbara junction and Nigeria/Benin border. The NNPC’s assets base and operations span across different regions of the country and the oil and gas industry has remained one of the biggest and most important economic drivers through foreign and domestic investments.
The GCEO expressed satisfaction with the progress of work so far done in the project sites visited, adding that the NNPC had done its part in releasing all the funds needed for their execution.
Misplaced priority, NNPC whose has 1 job, generate wealth for the nation through crude oil exploration but failed woefully by allowing almost 85% of crude stolen for years unabated until the whole world started screaming. Same NNPC is now seeking attention to fix roads?