SLC-S29/W3-“Thinking and Ideas!| Seeing Problems Differently!”

It sucks when you have people that can help you, and yet, these people aren't bothered. Just imagine! A rich man built a hotel in my community and asked the leaders in the community what they wanted him to do for them. Can you imagine what these leaders said?

They know very well that bad lighting and bad roads are the problems; people aren't moving into the community, and there have been cases of accidents because of this road. The man wanted to do anything, but they said they needed money. Just imagine. He would have done it himself, but he had to seek their permission. Just imagine what lack of education can cause.

One major problem in my community is **bad roads. Ever since I came to the community, my waist has definitely shifted because the hills and valleys seen as roads make it very uncomfortable to board a motorbike. This has been a problem for years because we lack a proper drainage system to control flooding. When rain falls, it eats up the road and makes it a valley or steep. Roads like this are seen in villages, but this is worse.

Why? In 10 years' time, it would be difficult for people to move about. Most people will think of relocation. There are various ways to tackle these bad roads without having to spend much making them tarred. I'll be talking about the elementary solution of this problem because the advanced solution needs strict intervention. I'll give you reasons.

• Filling with sand and concrete: Just imagine this kind of big valley and slope on a road. It looks more like the road to a stream. How do you expect cars to pass or move? Your house is on the high side while you're driving on a steep. That's insane. If you, his valley, can be filled with sand and concrete so that you become strong, cars would be making use of this road as well instead of bikes alone.

• Grading: Since the road can't be tarred immediately, the need for grading would be good and essential. Trucks with graders can use their machines to scrape the outer part of the earth and then make it hilly while making downward water passages where water can pass through without eating up certain surfaces.

If you look at the picture below, you'll see that there are pavements for water to pass through no matter the rain that falls, and potholes can rarely be created because the road is graded in a standard way, and this is usually done in the dry season so that during rainy days, it doesn't become a problem.

• Creating gutters and drainage systems. Drainage systems can be made to channel this water to avoid flooding and spoiling of roads. This may affect houses built on small roads. In such a situation, one gutter can be made, and the road made in such a way that all the water from both sides passes through that one gutter to the drainage.

• Taxing Big Trucks: Stopping trucks from using the road, especially for those who are building houses, won't work. Instead of stopping them, they can tax these trucks so that the money can be used to maintain the road when they spoil it with their huge tires.

• Enforcement by the government: The people in this community have decided that the government shouldn't work on their road until they get compensation from them.

Until then, I can suggest advanced ways of solving this road problem in my community.

This problem still exists because of lack of education. We don't have educated leaders in the community. Let's leave the greedy aspect alone and focus on how sensible these leaders are. The government brought in trucks to work on the road because of how bad it was. The villagers were against this welcome development. They wanted the government to compensate them first before they worked on the road, down to its extension.

They destroyed some of the trucks because the government refused to compensate them. Compensate you how? For the road you'll use alone? People's reasoning is so different. After two failed attempts to tar the road, the government gave them money to work on the road themselves.

Can you imagine what these leaders did? They used concrete to tar the road even with the amount of money given, and skilled laborers weren't hired to do this work. They couldn't even do 10% of what the government wanted to do. That's the reason this problem still exists. The greed and low reasoning of our leaders.

The same thing happened when a rich man wanted to tar the whole community. They requested that money should be given to them and that they would do it themselves as leaders. If care isn't taken, this may extend more than a decade.

The most misunderstood part of this problem is that the leaders aren't aware that this road is for the community's benefit. They don't understand that the government won't follow them to use this road. Why will they pay compensation for a road they won't use? The leaders feel the government wants to make a name for themselves and that they have enough money for doing the road as well as compensating them at the same time. They don't understand that this road the government will work for their community will bring development and improve their standard of living. This is the most misunderstood part that makes it seem like they don't have sense.

It would still be the mindset that the government must compensate the villagers before they work on the road. This mindset is too archaic. I can remember an instance when it was done in another village, but it was voluntary. The villagers didn't demand this from the government. It was the government that chose to support the villagers after the road was commissioned. So it's the entitlement mentality for me, something you'll benefit from.

In Nigeria as a whole, problem solving needs people that can reason and have 50% greed because greed is paramount, but they shouldn't use their greed to cause pain to the majority.

I invite @frafiomatale @artist1111 @ukpono