When Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago was sworn in on May 29, 2023, he promised Niger State an aggressive urban renewal. His words were bold: 1,500 kilometres of roads in four years, 556 roads covering over 1,000 kilometres, 202 kilometres of Minna township roads, five interchanges and flyovers, and intervention in 18 federal roads that the Federal Government had abandoned for over a decade.

Over three years after those contracts were flagged off – beginning from September 2023 – what Nigerlites see today is not a revolution, but a state dug up, blocked, and abandoned.

From Minna to Suleja, from Bida to Kontagora, township roads that were flagged off with fanfare have become gullies, heaps of laterite and stagnant pools. Drainages cleared but not channelled, culverts paid for by residents in some communities according to complaints, and contractors who after three years have achieved only 20 percent progress while others have disappeared from site. The situation is so bad that Governor Bago himself had to revoke one contract outright for lack of capacity, issue final warnings to others, and set deadlines that have come and gone repeatedly since 2024.

This is not how a revolution is built, and three years is enough time to show results.

To be fair, the challenges are real. The Ministry of Works has explained that persistent rainfall, insecurity in parts of the state, delays in compensation payments and financial constraints have slowed work. It is also true that the Federal Government’s own record in Niger is dismal – the Minna-Suleja road awarded to Salini Nigeria Limited 14 years ago, which Minister of Works David Umahi confirmed was falsely reported as 86 percent complete, is a monument to failure. Governor Bago deserves commendation for refusing to wait any longer and intervening in federal roads, even while waiting for a refund.

But governance is not about explaining failure after three years; it is about preventing it. If 556 roads were awarded at once in 2023/2024 without sequencing, without verifying contractor capacity, and without tying disbursement strictly to work done, then abandonment was predictable. You cannot launch N1 trillion worth of infrastructure in three years in a state whose entire annual budget hovers around N500 billion to N1.31 trillion – as presented in the 2026 budget – without a watertight delivery strategy.

The consequences after three years are already biting hard. In Minna, the state capital that Governor Bago said looked like a “glorified local government headquarters,” traders along construction corridors have lost their livelihoods, travel time has tripled, accidents have increased, and the dust and mud have worsened public health. A road project that was meant to bring relief has brought over 36 months of pain.

This newspaper calls on the Bago administration to do three things urgently.

First, prioritise and sequence. Government cannot do 556 roads at once. Publish a quarterly priority list: 50 roads per quarter, with clear start and end dates, contractors’ names, contract sums, and percentage completion after three years. Nigerlites should be able to track each kilometre.

Second, enforce accountability. The policy of paying only on visible progress must be fully implemented. Any contractor who after three years cannot show 70 percent completion should have his contract revoked and blacklisted. The era of political contractors must end.

Third, communicate with the people. The Ministry’s claim that it operates an open-door policy is not enough. Set up a citizen reporting portal for abandoned sites. Hold monthly town halls in each zone. If rain or insecurity stops work after three years, tell the people, provide alternative routes and palliatives.

Governor Bago calls himself the Farmer Governor. Farmers need roads to move produce from farms to markets. Without roads, there is no agriculture revolution, no urban renewal, and no new Niger.

He promised that no project would be abandoned. After more than three years, that promise is being tested. Niger State is Nigeria’s largest state by landmass and has the highest number of federal roads. Its people have waited too long for roads that work. They cannot wait again.

The time to finish what was started in 2023 is now.