Governor Wike’s 100 day promise: What qualifies for a pot-hole?

I wrote this for our news magazine about 2 weeks ago! I thought the larger population may want to read it...

Governor Wike is quietly but resolutely working on his swearing-in promise; to rid Port Harcourt roads of pot-holes in the first 100 days in office. Since the day the announcement was made, the time has been noisily ticking. We are not more than half way to that milestone, and in a number of places, pot holes are being eradicated. Now, I have no doubt that he can achieve this milestone. My issue is how we shall measure this achievement come August 29, 2015.

First, did we take a snapshot of the roads in Port Harcourt to have a ‘before and after’ picture of these pot holes? Now my worry is not that the Governor will cheat, but the people working for him, or even the contractors may cheat. I don’t want to hear that the pot holes that are not fixed are the ones that only recently developed perhaps after the promise was made and thus are not in the scope. That will not be nice because pot holes are pot holes, no matter when they developed.

The second issue is about what will constitute Port Harcourt roads. What is going to be the boundary of Port Harcourt for the purpose of this exercise? Will it include Eleme, Oyigbo, Choba, Etche, Omagwa and other far flung places from where people live and answer Port Harcourt residents? Perhaps this has been sorted, but it is not clear to me, and I trust that if it is not clear to me, it will perhaps not be clear to the majority of Port Harcourt people. I am not even talking about those who live outside Port Harcourt, who will be aggrieved that the governor is not giving their own roads attention.

Final issue, and this is the most technical. What do we take as a valid definition of a pot-hole? The dictionary gives two related meanings, “(i) a deep hole or a pit. (ii) a hole formed in pavement, as by excessive use or by extremes of weather”.

Let’s stick to these two; so what we are filling on Port Harcourt roads are holes! I want PH people to remember this; the government will fill HOLES in the roads that are paved or tarred! So if the road you are concerned about has never been previously paved, it does not qualify. If your road has been paved before, but we cannot not find any asphalt left on it, then it probably does not also qualify. Also, if your road is such that the holes have cut through the road and they are no longer cylindrical in nature, or have not like gutters in the middle of the road, don’t blame the engineers for not considering those as pot-holes.

I hope you all understand these descriptions so that come August 29, no one will complain that the governor did not fulfil his promise. That will be wrong. To be forewarned is to be fore-armed.