In the Grandiose Parlor…

BBC reports: “Motorcyclists in Nigeria have been wearing dried pumpkin shells on their heads to dodge new laws forcing them to wear helmets…Road safety officials said calabash-wearers would be prosecuted.”

This brings mixed feelings — it’s hilarious on one hand and tragic on the other.

I wonder what needs to be done here: booking and charging the offenders to court, or hammering more on the public health benefits of helmets? Both.

At about 3,500 naira ($29, £20), the cost of helmet appears out of reach for most, and there is even some supernatural belief that impedes the use the helmets. Local papers have reported “passengers’ fears that the helmets could be used by motorcyclists to cast spells on their clients, making it easy for them to be robbed.”

These socioeconomic components of the helmet law must be addressed if the authorities hopes to see the helmet law obeyed. Public health interventions — the helmet law is one example — hardly succeed via executive fiat.

Having an illuminated expressway in Nigeria sounds cool, right?

The Federal Government has earmarked over N50 million to illuminate the ever busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to avert accidents and improve the security situation.

The federal controller of works, Mr. Tunde Ekunsumi, who revealed this to newsmen in Lagos said the light up plans would not only give the motorists a pleasurable ride on the road , but would also raise the standard of the road to international standard. Source

I smell a rat!

Of what use is an illuminated road if it runs hundred of miles through the jungle, full of deep potholes and poorly maintained?

Just as it is anywhere in the world, public properties are prone to vandalism, and Nigeria is no exception.

In fact, vandalism and theft of public amenities such as street lights, electric and telephone cables is endemic in Nigeria; vandals and thieves run willy-nilly everywhere, even when their targets are located within city limits and highly visible. Lagos is an example: All light fixtures along the longest bridge in Nigeria, the 3rd Mainland bridge, have been vandalized. Several thousands of vehicles cross this bridge daily.

Having street lights along the expressway is not just creating easy targets for vandals, the rationale is flawed.

From my experience, roads are illuminated mostly when located within city limits – not when they run several miles through a no-man’s land. And the way to ‘raise the standard of the road to international standard’ in Nigeria is not embanking on projects that makes little or no sense, but by ensuring roads are in good condition, all the time.

The whole project is nothing but a gimmick to enrich some pockets, I’m convinced.

The government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo spent N86.29 billion on the moribund railway project, it has been revealed, according to Tribune news paper.

The Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Robert Ejevami, said on Tuesday in Abuja that there were discrepancies in the N86.29 billion railway modernisation project, adding that while it was awarded for $250 million, $175 million was paid into the company’s foreign account while the balance of $75 million was paid into its Nigerian account.

The AGF made the revelations while appearing at the public hearing into the management of funds allocated to the Transport and Works Ministries between 1999 and 2007.