Pat Utomi
By Dr. Michael Omoruyi
Nigeria does not always need economic data or policy white papers to diagnose its challenges. Sometimes, the clearest evidence of national decline comes from the road.
In a recent public post, renowned political economist Pat Utomi offered a sobering account of a journey that captures the Nigerian condition with painful clarity. He wrote:
“My car left Lagos at 5am. It has just arrived Asaba after 8pm. It had no breakdowns… But the real news is that it took six hours to cross Benin—from police trying to extort money to terribly bad roads.”
That single paragraph is more than a travel diary. It is an indictment of governance failure, institutional decay, and misplaced national priorities.
A Journey That Mirrors a Nation
In the 1980s, Lagos to Benin City was a three-hour drive. Today, the same route has become an endurance test—not because of distance, but because of neglect. Roads once considered national arteries have deteriorated into economic bottlenecks, slowing trade, increasing transport costs, and exhausting citizens.
Utomi’s experience underscores a harsh truth: Nigeria’s infrastructure has not merely stagnated; in many respects, it has regressed. When a country cannot maintain critical intercity routes, it sends a powerful message about the state’s capacity to deliver even the most basic public goods.
Policing Turned Predatory
Perhaps more troubling than the poor roads is the normalization of extortion along highways. As Utomi noted, police checkpoints have become toll gates of illegality, where travelers are delayed, harassed, and pressured to pay bribes.
This is not law enforcement; it is institutionalized dysfunction. When those entrusted with public safety become agents of daily humiliation, citizens lose faith not only in the police, but in the idea of the state itself.
What Must Change
Nigeria’s road crisis is not unsolvable. What is lacking is not knowledge, but political will.
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Infrastructure must be treated as a continuous national priority, not a seasonal project.
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Maintenance must replace abandonment as a governing culture.
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Security agencies must be reformed and held accountable, especially on highways.
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Citizens must demand performance, not promises, and resist the normalization of dysfunction.
Utomi’s journey should not be dismissed as a personal inconvenience. It is a mirror held up to the nation—one that reflects how far Nigeria has drifted from its potential.
Until leadership matches rhetoric with action, even the shortest journeys will remain long, and the road to progress will continue to feel like a road to nowhere.
About the Author
Dr. Michael Omoruyi is a Nigerian-born technologist, educator, and public affairs commentator. He is the founder of iNewsAfrica and the author of From Grit to Grace: A Memoir of Roots, Resilience, and Reinvention. Dr. Omoruyi writes extensively on governance, infrastructure, digital transformation, and Africa–diaspora engagement.
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