Nigeria, Nov. 3 -- The seven-seater Sienna space bus the reporter took from Abuja to Edo was quite uncomfortable, but the trip was made worse by the terrible state of the Auchi-Benin highway.

Ridden with potholes, damaged trucks, fuel tankers and other abandoned vehicles parked on one side of the road causing a gridlock.

Yet, if that was bad, residents felt the situation in many communities was worse.

"So many lives have been lost, a lot of cars and tricycles damaged because of the terrible state of Nomayo Road," a resident, Silas Ebonyi, said as he narrated the ordeal of Nomayo community, a community in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State.

Mr Ebonyi, 28, is a commercial tricyclist. He said the poor state of the road has ca...