Nigeria does not lack engineers. What it lacks is political will. Over the years, governors and civil service officials have turned road construction, building projects, and government vehicle fleets into lucrative cash machines.
They outsource works that Works Ministries could handle at inflated costs, siphoning public funds, all while trained professionals sit idle in offices.
Every Ministry of Works is staffed with civil, electrical, automobile, and mechatronics engineers capable of designing, building, and maintaining roads, buildings, and government vehicles. Yet most are desk-bound spectators, watching as contracts are handed to private firms under the pretext of “capacity limitations.”
The reality is far darker. Outsourced projects allow officials to inflate costs, award kickbacks, and skim millions from public coffers. Roads that could cost ₦500 million are billed at ₦2 billion. Routine vehicle maintenance becomes “rehabilitation.” Oversight disappears. Profits quietly land in private pockets.
Government vehicle fleets are a prime example. Cars and trucks are often declared unserviceable while still roadworthy, only to be sold at auction to insiders for a fraction of their value. A vehicle worth ₦50 million can be bought for as little as ₦200,000, effectively transferring public wealth to privileged civil servants.
This is not mismanagement; it is a systemic, organised transfer of public funds under the guise of official procedure.
The Ekiti Grader Scandal
Consider the grader Ekiti State inherited from Ondo. Parked idle for almost two decades, it was repaired about four years ago and then put to work grading roads across the state-commercially, on nearly a daily basis. According to sources, up to 90% of the revenue was allegedly embezzled, never reaching government coffers. One machine, one scandal, just a glimpse of a national pattern.
Nigeria spends billions on roads and vehicles it cannot account for. The solution is not more contractors; it is equipping and empowering existing ministries.
Ministries of Works must:
- Handle road and building construction in-house
- Maintain government vehicles with trained staff
- Operate under full transparency and performance oversight
The cost savings would be enormous. The benefits to infrastructure and public trust would be even greater.
Equipping ministries alone will not stop the leakages. Procurement must be fully computerized, with no civil servant handling cash to buy spare parts. Fault diagnosis must rely on modern diagnostic equipment, ensuring only verified components are ordered from central, auditable government stores.
This is how you stop insiders from treating public assets like private ATMs.
Nigeria’s laws are sufficient; its challenge is enforcement and integrity. Until governors and officials stop seeing ministries and government fleets as personal treasure troves, roads will crumble, vehicles will be wasted, and engineers will remain idle while taxpayers pay twice: first for inflated contracts, then for poorly maintained infrastructure.
The tools exist. The professionals are on payroll. The systems can be modernized. What Nigeria lacks is the courage to end a system that profits from dysfunction.
Until then, many states and local government roads will remain under construction, our vehicles underused, and our public funds perpetually stolen.
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