North Central summit puts roads — and money — back on the table

The first North Central Stakeholders Development Summit was, on paper, about coordination. In the corridors it was about roads. Delegates from Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger and Plateau arrived with maps, photographs of washouts, and a single request: spend.

President Tinubu’s order to release commission funds was the line they wanted. The fear is the usual one — that “released” will mean “approved in principle” until the fiscal year is almost gone.

A contractor who has waited through two administrations for a mobilisation fee put it this way: “We don’t need another summit. We need diesel and a start date.”

If the commissions can show a handful of finished kilometres before the campaign posters go up, they will have done more than most of their predecessors. That is a low bar. It is also, for now, the bar.