{"id":81132,"date":"2026-01-03T21:37:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T21:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=81132"},"modified":"2026-01-03T21:37:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T21:37:54","slug":"engr-okonkwo-highlights-road-safety-concerns-infrastructure-gaps-excessive-checkpoints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2026\/01\/03\/engr-okonkwo-highlights-road-safety-concerns-infrastructure-gaps-excessive-checkpoints\/","title":{"rendered":"Engr Okonkwo Highlights Road Safety Concerns, Infrastructure Gaps, Excessive Checkpoints"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Samson Adeyanju<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Engineer Ikenna Okonkwo, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE), has raised concerns over road safety, slow-paced infrastructure development and the proliferation of security checkpoints following a 2,400-mile road drive across Nigeria\u2019s North Central and South East regions.<\/p>\n<p>Okonkwo disclosed that the journeys, completed in less than two months between November 2025 and early January 2026, involved three major road trips from Abuja to Anambra and Enugu states for professional, social and festive engagements.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the trips exposed persistent safety and infrastructure challenges, including poor road conditions, night-driving risks and what he described as an \u201cexcessive and discouraging\u201d number of checkpoints, particularly in the South East.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that during the journeys, he crossed over 200 checkpoints manned by various security agencies, encountered more than 500 potholes and deep road cuts, passed over 50 bridges and river crossings, and experienced numerous road hold-ups.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe greatest nightmare was not insecurity or the state of the roads, but the number of checkpoints, some barely 100 metres apart, which discourages road travel and adds unnecessary stress to motorists,\u201d Okonkwo said.<\/p>\n<p>While acknowledging ongoing road construction efforts by the Federal Ministry of Works, especially the concrete road sections along the Abuja-Lokoja corridor, he commended the quality of work but criticised the slow pace of delivery.<\/p>\n<p>He also stressed the importance of road safety, warning that long-distance and night driving pose serious risks if vehicles and drivers are not adequately prepared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRoad safety depends largely on two things: the state of the vehicle and the state of mind of the driver. If visibility is poor or fatigue sets in, it is safer to stop and continue the journey the next day,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n<p>Okonkwo called on authorities to streamline checkpoint operations, accelerate road infrastructure projects and intensify public awareness on safe driving practices, noting that improved road conditions and reduced travel stress would enhance safety and economic activity across regions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Samson Adeyanju Engineer Ikenna Okonkwo, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE), has raised concerns over road safety, slow-paced infrastructure development and the proliferation of security checkpoints following a 2,400-mile road drive across Nigeria\u2019s North Central and South East regions. Okonkwo disclosed that the journeys, completed in less than two months between [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":81133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,1746],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-travel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81134,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81132\/revisions\/81134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}