PROFERRING SOLUTIONS TO BAD ROADS IN NIGERIA;

A CIVIL ENGINEERS PERSPECTIVE

BY

OSHO AYO EZEKIEL

INDRODUCTION
According to English Encarta dictionary a Road is defined as a long surfaced route broad enough
for vehicles to be driven on it. Since this paper is a Civil Engineering perspective, Road can be
describe as a pavement that is a general public way for the passage of vehicle, people and
animal.
The Increasing demand for road transport in Nigeria as a result of the growth and development in
the country had led the roads in Nigeria to be subjected to a lot of traffic which over burden the
roads and hence tend to make the Nigerian road a bad one in terms of safety and comfort of the
road users.
CAUSES OF BAD ROAD IN NIGERIA
In order to proffer solutions to bad roads in Nigeria, the causes of structural failure must be
defined and analyzed so that remedial measures will prevent, reduce or correct these failures.
The main causes of deterioration resulting into failures of a road pavement are as follows.
I. The Action of Traffic, With Heavy Goods Vehicles Having the Greatest
Detrimental Effect: The predominant cause of deterioration is due to vertical
deformation in the wheel tracks. Every vehicle that passes over a pavement induces
transient strains in the pavement layers and the sub-grade. The magnitude of these
transient strains will vary greatly according to the magnitude of the wheel load and
the effect of the temperature and moisture conditions on the stress-strain properties of
the pavement material and sub-grade at the time of application of the load. When a
transient strain due to a wheel load exceeds a certain critical value in one or more of
the pavement layers or sub-grade, small non-recoverable strain remains in that. Layer
after the vehicle has passed. The accumulation of these minute strains appears first as
cracks and later as potholes and other surface deficiencies.
II. The Action of Weather, Rain and Heat: Nigeria a sub Sahara country is subjected to
heavy rain and high temperature in both the forest region of the South and the Sahel
region of the north, the harsh climatic condition have its negative consequent on both
the safety of the road way and the quality of the road. Weather acts through visibility
impairments, precipitation, high winds, and temperature extremes to affect driver
capabilities, vehicle performance (i.e., traction, stability and maneuverability),
pavement friction, roadway infrastructure, crash risk, traffic flow, and agency
 productivity. Heavy rains have the capability to eat up the pavement if adequate
drainage is not provided. Variation in the temperature of very high noon temperature
and very low night temperature causes the road to expand and contract repeatedly,
these pressure that these movement causes to the road makes it damage easily.
III. Unstable ground conditions: This is a common occurrence especially in the southern
part of Nigeria where the soil bearing capacity is very low as a result of the unstable
ground conditions. The strength and stability of soil depend on its physical properties.
Soil with good structure is more stable. Clay textures are often more stable than sand
textures because they have better structure. However, a mix of particle sizes (and pore
sizes) is best for engineering. It is also important that soil is stable through wetting
and drying cycles, so that expanding soil does not crack roads. Some clay minerals,
from a family called smectite, are more likely to shrink and expand during wetting
and drying cycles than minerals from other families, such as kaolinite.
IV. Construction materials & methods: When the construction materials used in road
construction such as bitumen, asphalt and concrete are sub standard, the road life span
is surely will be shorten and will not last the test of time, even when you have the
right material for construction but the wrong method of construction is being
employed, the road is subjected to fail easily.
V. Post construction activities: Activities such as digging across the road to install
utilities such as water pipes and electric cables, digging of trenches along the road,
dumping of building materials and other obstructions on the road, uncontrolled street
trading are common occurrences in Nigeria road, all these are not road friendly
activities they greatly reduce the efficiency of the road.
VI. Poor workmanship: Poor workmanship is also responsible for the failure of roads.
The poor construction methods and workmanship is caused due to negligence and
inadequate quality control at construction site. Most of the workmen in
construction sites in Nigeria are not well trained. This is especially among
the artisans and the craftsmen. Sometimes the technicians, the
technologists and even the engineers are not given adequate practical
training. Inappropriate application of materials by the workmen is mostly
due to low knowledge of the works by the workmen. Operations like soil
compaction and stabilization are inadequately done due to low knowledge
of the workers.
 VII. Inadequate Maintenance: Even if the roads are well built they need adequate
maintenance for sustainability. One of the main problems of highway development in
Nigeria is maintenance. The roads are rarely maintained and whenever maintenance is
attempted it is done haphazardly. The financing of the maintenance, rehabilitation and
conservation of the roads network in Nigeria had always been left to the government
at the federal, state and local government levels who because of their lack of
maintenance culture do not release funds for road maintenance at the appropriate
time. The road network was therefore left to deteriorate to the extent that portions of
the federal trunk A roads became impassable. Roads worldwide were considered
critical infrastructure in any nations life and were paid premium attention. He said
that was not the case with Nigeria, as many of the roads had exceeded their structural
life and had become huge slaughter slabs as they had been denied all forms of
maintenance. Adequate fund are not budgeted for maintenance in Nigeria. Budgetary
process is cumbersome and agencies in charge of maintenance are not well monitored
for efficient work.
SOLUTIONS TO ENDING THE STATE OF BAD ROAD IN NIGERIA
There are solutions to the causes of bad roads in Nigeria. These solutions are enumerated and
recommendations made on how to solve the road failures as follows;
i. PROVISION OF ADEQUATE AND APPROPRIATE DESIGNS: The
construction of a road starts from conception, planning and design. Without a good
design of the road the functionality of the road may not be achieved. Even when the
construction and supervision is adequate without the design process well done the end
product in the form of a road project will not be functional. The agencies in charge of
road work in the country like the ministry of works and the professional bodies whose
works relate to road constructions in country will be made to be more proactive in the
activities leading to the design and construction of roads in the country. They should
be able to give appropriate supervision, direction and control to road design
consultants and road construction companies in the country.
ii. DECONGESTION OF THE ROADS: The roads need the decongestion of traffic
on them. Obstacles like cracks, potholes and abandoned vehicles on the roads lead to
slow movement of vehicles on the road which leads to the congestion of traffic on the
 roads. Therefore one way of decongesting the roads of traffic is by removing those
obstacles like cracks, potholes and abandoned vehicles from the road. Decongestion
can also be achieved by the diversion of traffics to other traffic modes like the
railways, waterways and air transport.
iii. MAINTENANCE OF THE ROADS: For a sustainable road development in Nigeria
there is the need for adequate maintenance of the roads in the country. Highway
maintenance ensures that the road way, the roadsides, traffic structures and facilities
are kept in a condition of performance same or nearly as operational as when the road
was newly built. This is done by constant checking for faults or faulty locations on
highway and where such faults occur, adequate repairs are applied. This detection of
faults can be done using experience and equipment that can locate or detect potential
weaknesses on the pavement before they visibly occur. Depending on the type and
location of the road, these operations include; grading of the road way, paving,
resurfacing, mulching, planting of grasses and trees where necessary, replacing of
damaged traffic facilities, patching of road way surfaces, drainage maintenance,
sweeping of road surfaces and sidewalks and the disposal of the refuse that are
littered on the road. In some of the state capitals in Nigeria street sweeping and the
disposal of rubbish is gradually being taken serious by some of the state governments.
A lot of money, materials and labour go into the maintenance of the nations roadway,
but with appropriate planning and execution of maintenance operation in this country
money will be saved.
iv. PROVISION OF HIGHWAY FACILITIES: Roadway facilities like drainages,
shoulders, highway signs and markings are needed for the good functionality of the
roads in Nigeria. Such facilities that will provide adequate functionality for the
highway. The problems of the roads arise from faulty design, lack of the facilities like
the drainages, and very thin coatings that are easily washed away by floods and
hardly withstand heavy traffic.
v. ADEQUATE SOIL TESTS IN ROAD CONSTRUCTION: One of the main
reasons why highways in the country fail is that adequate knowledge of the soil
situation is not obtained before the commencement of the road work. Knowledge of
the soil situation (especially Southern Riverine Area of the country) helps both at the
design and construction stage of the road. The sub grade should be tested and found
 to be adequate before usage. The soil for sub base and base course even the material
for the wearing course and the pavement must be found to meet the standard before
they will be accepted for usage in road construction work.
vi. APPROPRIATE ROAD CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS: The problems of road
functionality in Nigeria arise from faulty design, lack of drainages, and lack of
appropriate construction materials. The materials for road construction and
maintenance must be tested and confirm adequate by competent examiners before
being used for road construction. Those materials that are of standard quality are what
are needed for good road construction. The use of this type of material will enable us
realize the governments aim in the provision of appropriate road network in the
country.
vii. USE OF WELL TRAINED ROAD ENGINEERS: Those who will be able to
realize the problems of the Nigerian roads, their causes and proffer solutions should
be sought. The problems arise from faulty design, lack of drainages, and very thin
coatings that are easily washed away by floods and hardly withstand heavy traffic.
These faults could be easily detected and dealt with if well trained and qualified
engineers are enlisted for road work in the country. Engineering professional bodies
like COREN should be involved in both the training and the supervision of highway
engineers both in the school stage and in the direct construction work on our roads.
viii. APPROPRIATE SANCTIONS FOR HIGHWAY FAILURES: The government
should ensure all contractors should live up to expectation in their project by ensuring
any offending contractor would be sanctioned. One of the main problems of road
construction in Nigeria is delays and a display of incompetence by the contactors.
Such development need to be condemned and sanctions applied as a deterrent to
future occurrence of such show of incompetence.
CONCLUSIONS
Having looked at the causes and solution of improper road construction practice
recommendations has been given on how to avoid such occurrence in the future. If the Nigerian
authorities will carefully carry out the recommendations given in this paper it will go a long way
alleviating the countrys road transportation problems.