Thursday, October 31, 2019

Civil Engineering 101 and the Needs for Accountability in Nigeria.

Written for my Facebook Audience

This is what they do overseas. And that is why their roads last for about 30 years. When the specified lifetime is reached, whether or not the road is damaged, they would simply remove the entire top (the cement, coal tar, and asphalt, leaving intact the rods as you are seeing in the picture, and start a new tarring all over again. The rods fixed into the concrete underneath are permanent features - unremovable. We don't do that in Nigeria. We simply pour the coal tar and cement or gravel on top of the graded red soil, as you saw in some of the pictures I shared a few days ago. If we do in Nigeria what they are doing in the picture, especially on the Benin/Auchi road, you would put a smile on the face of travellers for the next twenty to thirty years. And I do hope and pray that the Government of Lagos State, which is reported to have taken over some federal roads in the state, adopts the same standard in the reconstruction of the Lagos/Badagry International Highway and the Mile 2/Apapa Interchange.
Please, I want to state upfront: I am not doing this - writing stories and sharing videos and pictures - because I want to be noticed or given a job in Nigeria. That is far from the truth. I am doing it because Nigerians deserve better. I am doing it because I want to prove that it doesn't take rocket science to govern Nigeria and make it a World-class global empire. We have the brainpower and the natural resources to do them. A President cannot even give an account of the humongous budget for his Aso Rock (not even the Aso Clinic), yet he is jetting abroad looking for money to borrow to fix our infrastructural facilities. For a start, cut your budget for your Aso Villa and aircraft. Then cut the salaries and emoluments of our National Assembly members. Then, eliminate the Security votes for all our Governors. You will have enough funds to put the Lecturers back to work.
I am not naive; If I need your job or appointment, I won't be writing or having an opinion on our national issues. I am a minority of the minorities, and I have a good understanding of what marginalisation is marginalization. Just do the right thing, and I will stop talking.

Kolade Larewaju
Road construction in Germany. Tell me, how can this road develop potholes even in 100 years?
Uyi Precious A and 1 other
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  • Ibrahim M. Augie, Am waiting for a civil engineer to comment on this photo. One thing for sure is that this must be a challenging portion geologically to warrant this over-engineering work. A correctly measured/prepared hardcore layer topped by recommended asphalt or plain concrete surfacing can last for decades. What we lack in Nigeria is respect for engineering specifications, and that is defined by our poor education, corruption and cultural attitude to plain hard, honest work
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  • Ibrahim M. Augie Even airports that take heavy toll of aircraft landings arent surfaced this way.
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  • Ibrahim M. Augie Most likely this portion has a deep clay layer underneath ..
  • Alex Ehimhantie'Aiyo Aidaghese There is permanent layer of concrete underneath the rods. Once the steel rods are laid on the top, they become permanent features. What they do is to deposit another set of mixed asphalt, coal tar, and cement on top of the rods. In Nigeria, we don't have the underneath rods and concrete. We deposit ours mixed cement, asphalt and coal tar on top of the graded ground floor.
  • Gideon Odion Ataya Based on my experience, this method of road construction might not be suitable for Nigeria terrain based on the available geotechnical data. As you you know, Reinforcement slab concrete would crack due to linear and cubic expansion of steel in relation to the temperature increase. You know Nigeria Climate. Moreover, the best option would be a minimum layer of improved soil which should be tested as per ASTI or any similar standard, followed by sufficient layer of road base, wet mix macadam, sub base and the final wearing course as per standard requirements.
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  • Alex Ehimhantie'Aiyo Aidaghese Interesting. Thank you, Mr. Gideon Odion Ataya, for adding your expertise to the discussion. We analyze what we see from a layman point of view. I thank you for your insights.
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  • Gideon Odion Ataya Moreover, this method would require expansion joints for steel expansion which would be rather expensive or might affect the road evenness. Check bridges, expansion joint is provided at regular intervals.
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  • Alex Ehimhantie'Aiyo Aidaghese, when you say "Reinforcement slab concrete would crack due to linear and cubic expansion of steel about the temperature increase," initially, it sounds complicated to me. However, given my observations of Highways in Houston, TX, and the intense hits over the years, your comment began to make sense to me. What they do in Texas, which I have not seen on the East Coast of the US, is create space or open along the highways. When I asked a colleague the reason for those openings, I was told, as you rightly said, that concrete does expand and crack during an intense hit. And to avoid the crack, they create openings the size of a pencil, vertically and horizontally, all over their Highways. So, whenever there is expansion induced by a hit, there is space available for the expansion to spread into. And that is how they preempt cracking. I understand now what you are talking about. But, in the US, they have already devised methods to take care of it. And that is what, I suppose, you called "expansion joint," which I described as "openings."
    • Alex Ehimhantie'Aiyo Aidaghese Glad to talk to you. Ewohimi has great guys and ladies. I'm excited. Stay in touch, bro. The Lord is your strength.
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  • Alex Ehimhantie'Aiyo Aidaghese Please, Gideon Odion Ataya, with all due respect, I am not trying to be an Engineer. I am able to understand and respond to your comment, based on my observations and the innocent questions I have asked in the past. So, you are very correct in your theory, based on what I observed on Highways in Houston, TX.
  • Elder Ovis Ulekhue You won't stop talking. I won't stop talking, either. No one for that matter will stop talking. Let's talk it out, let's talk about it and let's talk to have all various issues resolved. Power Holding Company doesn't supply light but distributes bills and ensures that whoever delays payment or fails to pay gets disconnected : nobody talks about it. Workers get tax deductions on their salaries and nothing to show for it : nobody talks about it. Nigerians, both in paid employment and self employed pay triple taxes, at highway checkpoints, where motorists are fleeced of their left over disposal income, this fact is re-emphasized : nobody talks about it. Nigerian workers are owed salaries of up to 17 months, and Governors get, in additions to unaudited monthly expenses, security votes running into billions of hard earned currencies, Federal House of Assembly members get as their monthly allowances and pay that are enough to settle arrears of pay for civil servants : nobody talks tough about it. If nobody talks about all these, how will the problems be solved? Now to the serious matter of road construction in Nigeria. Building collapse and cases of road accidents involving motorists are direct results of negligence and corruption in governments and amongst agents of Authorities and contractors. If "laymen" could understand what materials are needed to build roads to satisfaction and longevity, how much more should the experts know? Very much. But why do roads get eroded six months to two years after construction? Error of judgement? Knowledge gap? Neither. It happens because someone had compromised on the minimum standard of operation and specifications. New roads, you won't believe this, are still being constructed by foreign contractors without regard to globally accepted standards. Underneath water channels, where necessary or compulsory, gutters or drainage and provisions for electrical connections and plumbing works are flagrantly ignored in constructing major roads. The result is cutting and breakage of some roads to allow for passages of pipes, wires and cables, and avoidable interventions had proper attention been paid to the contract agreement as the work progresses or before the works ever started. All these anomalies are not unintended; someone somewhere somehow has figured in billions of naira that would roll into private pockets from substandard works, which cost the same amount as though standards and prescriptions had been adhered to. The same laxity in governance makes it possible for certain office holders and the people's reps to allocate so much pay, allowances to themselves without checks and balances, no accountability, no nothing. Let them call us the names that they seem fit for standing up and raising our voices for justice and equality or equity. The Bible says wisdom is justified by its fruit. Let the wise enjoy his wisdom and leave the fool to bask in his folly.
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