While Nigerians continue to battle with collapsed highways, deep potholes and nightmarish journeys on most of the nation’s trunk ‘A’ highways, there are indications that the 2026 Appropriation of the Federal Ministry of Works has captured certain provisions that have no bearing whatsoever with the schedule of duties and responsibilities of the ministry and, or its parastatals.
A cursory look at the provisions of the 2026 budget showed that the Federal Ministry of Works plans to spend over ₦500 million on hairdressing, make-up training and other empowerment projects which have drawn the attention of the public that is in disbelief, thus growing public anger.
The budgetary proposals are contained in the 2026 Appropriation Bill uploaded on the Budget Office website.
This is as many commuters, commercial drivers and traders who spend days stranded on failed roads are left bewildered as the revelations reopen painful questions about government priorities at a time when transportation has become one of the biggest daily risks to life and livelihood.
The budget documents showed that under item code ERGP 12234747, the ministry proposed ₦35 million for the supply of grinding machines to women in Ndokwa/Ukwani Federal Constituency in Delta State.
Similarly, ₦35 million was also budgeted for training and empowering women in hairdressing, make-up and soap making in Mikang/Shandam/Qua’an Pan Federal Constituency of Plateau State.
In the vein, the ministry proposed ₦70 million for the training and empowerment of youths, women and seven retirees in different skills in the Northeast geo-political zone, in addition to the provision of trade equipment in Inyamaltu/Deba area of Gombe State.
The budget also showed that another ₦70 million was proposed for the supply of mini pick-up vans, mini shuttle buses and motorcycles to constituents in Abakaliki Federal Constituency of Ebonyi State.
In addition, funds were proposed for training, sensitisation, advocacy and empowerment of youths against drug abuse in Zamfara State, alongside several similar constituency-based projects scattered across geopolitical zones.
While empowerment programmes are not unusual in government budgets, their inclusion under the Federal Ministry of Works — the agency directly responsible for the nation’s collapsing highways — has raised eyebrows.
Across Nigeria, major roads such as the East-West Road, Benin-Asaba Expressway, Onitsha-Owerri Road, Lokoja-Abuja Highway and long stretches of the Enugu-Port Harcourt corridor remain scenes of breakdowns, robberies, accidents and deaths.
For families forced to sleep in broken-down vehicles, traders whose goods rot in traffic, and communities cut off by washed-away roads, the proposals feel disconnected from lived reality.
The proposed budgetary expenditures have expectedly triggered renewed scrutiny over what Nigerians described as misplaced priorities as they ponder why a ministry assigned with the responsibility of fixing the nation’s arteries should be involved in budgeting for empowerment projects while the roads are in terrible shape.
COURTESY: Forefront
