What if our leaders travel by road?

The bad condition of our roads suggests that our leaders do not perform up to expectation in discharging their constitutional duties. I often think that our leaders are, to a very large extent, disconnected from the grassroots.

The Jengre–Saminaka road that links Plateau State and Kaduna State displays a seeming failure of the government and a proof to the above assertion. The road has been bad for many years and nothing is done and nothing seems to be done yet. Hardly will a person pass that road without health problem springing up.

It is this reason, and roads of similar bad condition across Nigeria, that makes me imagine a law that will make it compulsory for our leaders when undertaking a journey of not more than six hours within Nigeria to go by road. This will, to my humble imagination, doubtlessly make the Nigerian leaders very much aware of the predicament of the people at the grassroots.

I believe the leaders will be rushing to ensure that the roads with potholes, some of them almost impassable, like that of Jengre–Saminaka will be a thing of the past. If a common man, a man from the ghetto will be ill on such roads, then what about our leaders?

The multiple effects of a law like that will also make the leaders aware of the problems associated with journey by road, which includes, highway robbery, kidnapping, as well as the shameful bribes collected by our security agents on the highway. Our leaders will likely ensure the presence of security agents on the road, those bribe-taking men in khaki bringing down the image of our security structure will also be dealt with.

In the financial realm, the government will save huge amount of fund spent on regular flights from Jos to Zaria, from Zamfara to Kano or Kaduna to Minna, Benue to Lafia...to Abuja. The fund can be preciously used in addressing the problems of other sectors.

But like I stated above, I only imagine such a law. I intentionally put it this way because the same leaders will make the law and not enforce it.

Abdul Mutallib Muktar.