Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has seized on President Bola Tinubu’s criticism of indiscriminate flyover construction to renew his call for governments to abandon prestige projects and channel resources into rebuilding Nigeria’s collapsing road infrastructure.
Obi said Saturday that while he welcomed the President’s position, the Federal Government must go beyond rhetoric by redirecting public spending towards rehabilitating dilapidated highways that connect the nation’s economic and agricultural corridors.
According to him, Nigeria cannot justify investing billions of naira in new, high-profile infrastructure while major federal roads remain riddled with potholes, unsafe for motorists and costly to businesses.
“The President is, in essence, saying what I have always maintained: government must prioritise projects that directly address the immediate needs of the people,” Obi said.
The former Anambra State governor argued that the country’s fragile finances require disciplined spending, insisting that completing abandoned and ongoing projects should take precedence over launching fresh initiatives that could become another burden on public resources.
He warned against what he described as “white-elephant” projects, saying governments should measure success by the value infrastructure delivers to citizens rather than by the number of new projects commissioned.
Obi maintained that rehabilitating existing roads would ease transportation costs, improve access to markets, strengthen food supply chains and stimulate economic activity far more quickly than expensive projects with limited immediate impact.
Drawing on his experience in office, he said his administration in Anambra State deliberately completed inherited projects before initiating new ones because governance is a continuous responsibility, not a cycle of abandoning the work of predecessors.
He said true leadership lies in restoring failing infrastructure, completing projects already underway and ensuring that every public investment delivers tangible benefits to the greatest number of Nigerians.
“Leadership is about making the right choices: fixing what is broken, completing what has already been started, and investing limited public resources where they will have the greatest impact on the greatest number of people,” Obi stated.