The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has urged President Bola Tinubu to extend his recent caution against the construction of unnecessary flyovers by state governments to projects being executed by the Federal Government.
Obi, in a post shared on his Facebook page, said he had consistently maintained that governments at all levels should prioritise rehabilitating existing infrastructure and completing ongoing projects before embarking on new ones that could end up abandoned.
According to him, the President’s reported advice to state governors against committing scarce public resources to flyovers in areas with little traffic aligns with a position he has advocated for years.
He said the President’s remarks reinforce the need for governments to focus on projects that directly address the immediate needs of citizens rather than prestige developments with limited impact.
The former Anambra State governor, however, argued that the same principle should guide the Federal Government’s spending decisions.
He expressed concern that, despite Nigeria’s fiscal challenges, the Federal Government was pursuing what he described as unrealistic and “white-elephant” projects while many critical infrastructure facilities remained in poor condition.
Obi specifically pointed to the condition of major highways linking commercial centres and food-producing communities, saying many had deteriorated into “death traps.”
He argued that rehabilitating and completing existing infrastructure would deliver greater economic and social benefits than initiating costly new projects with limited immediate impact.
Drawing from his experience as governor of Anambra State, Obi said his administration focused on completing viable projects inherited from previous governments before initiating new ones.
He maintained that governance should be viewed as a continuum, stressing that development should be measured by the successful completion of projects and the benefits they deliver to the people rather than by who initiated them.
Obi noted that effective leadership requires making prudent choices by fixing existing infrastructure, completing ongoing projects and ensuring that limited public resources are invested in areas that would have the greatest impact on the lives of Nigerians.
