Bad Roads Persist Despite Trillions in Annual Allocations

Many roads across Nigeria, including federal highways, remain in poor condition despite trillions of naira allocated each year for road projects.

These roads are meant to link regions, support trade, and drive economic activity, but years of neglect have made travel difficult, unsafe, and costly.

In a post shared on his X handle on December 22, 2025, Prof. Pat Utomi complained about the state of the roads, saying he spent more than 17 painful hours travelling from Lagos to Asaba.

“My car left Lagos at 5 am. It has just arrived in Asaba after 8 pm. It had no breakdowns. It made Benin at 10.30. That was a 3-hour drive in the 80s.

“But the real news is that it took 6 hours to cross Benin. From police trying to extort money to terribly bad roads, Detty December got dirty,” he said.

Commenting on Utomi’s post, a user with the name Professor Emme expressed, “The Abuja-Kogi-Benin road is an eyesore; the Benin-Asaba highway is another example of why we need to pick those data boys and flog all of them. Sorry for the experience. It has always been like this from time immemorial.”

About a year earlier, Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, reportedly shared his experience with bad roads while trying to attend a funeral in Esan Central, Edo State.

He said he left at 8 a.m. to attend the funeral of the mother of his close friend, General Cecil Esekhaigbe, but could not complete the trip because the roads were impassable.

Obi explained that after facing problems on the Benin route, he tried another road through Agbor in Delta State. However, he got stuck on a badly damaged road with many potholes and a broken-down trailer that caused heavy traffic.

He then attempted to use Ugoneki Road but met more obstacles, making it impossible to reach the funeral.

“The poor condition of many Nigerian roads breaks my heart,” Obi said, expressing his disappointment with the state of the country’s roads.

Deteriorating road infrastructure

In the North-Central, roads like Abuja–Lokoja–Okene and Keffi–Akwanga–Makurdi are full of potholes and often flooded. Traffic is frequently delayed for hours, making it hard to move people and farm produce, leading to higher transport costs and food waste.

In the Northeast, roads such as Maiduguri–Biu–Gombe and Yola–Mubi–Michika are badly damaged. Poor surfaces, erosion, and insecurity make travel dangerous, especially during the rainy season, even as many communities are cut off, and local trade suffers.

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In the North-West, major trade routes like Kaduna–Birnin Gwari–Kebbi and Zaria–Funtua–Gusau are deteriorating. Broken roads damage vehicles and slow the movement of agricultural products, pushing food prices higher.

The South-East, one of the worst affected, reflects that the Enugu–Onitsha Motorway and Owerri–Aba Road are in very poor condition. Short trips now take hours, and businesses struggle because goods cannot move easily.

In the South-South, flooding and abandoned road projects have damaged key routes. The East–West Road and Calabar–Itu–Uyo Road are often impassable, making travel costly and hurting regional trade.

Even in the South-West, problems remain, as the Benin–Ore–Sagamu Motorway and Ibadan–Oyo–Ilorin Road are still unsafe in many areas despite repairs.

Governance failure

Overall, poor funding, weak maintenance, and abandoned projects have left many federal roads in a bad state, leading to higher transport costs, incessant accidents, rising food prices, and slower economic growth.

Nigeria’s failing highways now clearly show the country’s infrastructure and governance challenges despite the yearly budgetary allocations for road infrastructure.

2026 allocation and comparison

In the 2026 proposed budget, the federal government has allocated the highest spending to the Federal Ministry of Works.

Pinnacle Daily review of the proposed budget shows that the work ministry will receive the highest allocation, with a total of ₦3.48 trillion earmarked for operations and projects.

Of this amount, ₦48.11 billion is set aside for recurrent expenditure, while ₦3.07 trillion is allocated to capital projects.

An additional ₦367.90 billion is expected to be financed through project-tied loans, reflecting the government’s continued emphasis on large-scale infrastructure development.

President Bola Tinubu presented a proposed 2026 budget size of N58 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly on Friday, December 19, 2025, and the allocation of works topped others, including defence, education, and health ministries, Pinnacle Daily earlier analysed.

A further check shows that the works ministry’s budget increased steadily between 2024 and 2026, amid frustrating road development.

Its allocation rose from ₦1.03 trillion in 2024 to ₦2.21 trillion in 2025, nearly doubling in one year. The upward trend continued in 2026, with the allocation rising to about ₦3.48 trillion, reflecting increased spending budgeted for major road construction and rehabilitation projects.

2026 budget prioritises rural, security and farm roads

The 2026 bill places strong emphasis on road construction and rehabilitation across rural areas, security formations and farming communities, with projects spread across several ministries and specialised agencies.

Rather than relying only on the Federal Ministry of Works, the budget assigns road projects to security agencies, agricultural institutions and research bodies to improve access, boost food production and strengthen internal security networks.

Security agencies received notable allocations for road works, with the Nigeria Police being allocated about ₦13.02 billion for the construction of roads within police formations and commands. The Nigerian Army received ₦3.72 billion for road construction and ₦1.28 billion for repairs, including internal road networks in military facilities.

Agriculture-related agencies are to be funded to support rural access, as the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security was allocated ₦2.51 billion for the construction of feeder roads in rural communities across the six geopolitical zones. The Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute received ₦3.04 billion for road construction projects.

Also, the National Root Crops Research Institute is to fund asphalt and rural road projects in Abia State, including the Umuhu–Abriba and Ugwueke–Akaeze roads. The National Agricultural Land Development Authority is to build farm access roads and connect farming settlements in states such as the Delta and Plateau. The National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation is also constructing roads in Oyo State.

Other specialised road projects include the Nigerian Navy’s ongoing work on the Dengi–Kwalmiya–Gagdi–Wawus road in Plateau State. The Federal Co-operative College, Ibadan, is executing several rural farm road projects in communities across the South West, while the Defence Intelligence Agency and the Military Pension Board also received allocations for access roads.

Regionally, the budget provides for township and rural road projects in the Northwest, Southwest, Cross River and Lagos states, with particular focus on farm roads and inner-city estate roads.

Overall, the 2026 budget shows a shift towards using specialised agencies to deliver local and rural road projects, complementing the Federal Ministry of Works’ role in managing national highways.

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