I hope this government is aware of the fact that it can bring down the price of basic food items dramatically if it launches a rural road rehabilitation programme

Ayo Akinfe

[1] As Nigerians continue to protest the effects of inflation and the fact that the cost of basic food items are soaring beyond reach, I wonder if they are aware of the fact that their country is the world’s sixth largest agricultural producer. Basically, what this means is that we have a solution to hand

[2] Nigeria’s is the world’s number one producer of about 10 agricultural crops, with the main ones being yam, cassava, cocoa yam, melon seed, bitter leaf and shea nuts. If we flood the market with these items, prices will literally collapse

[3] Now, herein lies our big problem. About a third of our agricultural output gets destroyed in the rural areas. Poor roads mean potholes, which in turn destroys crops, especially fruit and vegetables

[4] Just imagine how much produce we would save and how much revenue could be generated if we had a decent rural road network with crops transported to markets in refrigerated trucks

[5] I think one of the first things President Tinubu needs to do as he seeks to address the issues raised by this protest is sit down with his governors and explain the importance of rural roads to them. Rural roads are 10 times more important to us economically than flyovers and fancy urban roundabouts

[6] Each state governor should also come up with a public works programme that involves getting our youth off the street and building these rural roads. These governors should set themselves a 95% crop retention target

[7] Annually, we may need to spend about $2bn on rural roads across all 774 local government areas. Every year, the rainy season has shown that we have no rural transport network in Nigeria . Many villages and farms are totally inaccessible whenever it rains

[8] This then needs to be augmented with the construction of our national rail network linking all 774 local government areas to what is effectively a railway grid. We simply have to get more people off the roads and into trains

[9] In subsequent years, I would also dedicate about $2bn to a national bicycle programme. We need to get away from this ignorant notion that bicycles are for the “bush man” and villager. This will allow farmers to cycle to their farms every morning

[10] Ultimately, for this programme to succeed, our state governors need to run with it. If you ask me, one of the most under-performing organisations in the country today is the Nigerian Governors Forum. Annually, it should set production targets across a wide range of sectors and then ensure that its members meet them

Ayoakinfe@gmail.com