Bashir Aliyu Maru: Abdulaziz Yari’s road projects and the economics of everyday life

There is an interesting paradox about infrastructure. The moment it begins to work well, we stop noticing it.
Few people think about the road they drive on to work every morning. Hardly anyone pauses halfway across a bridge to appreciate what it replaced. We remember potholes, collapsed culverts and flooded crossings. We rarely remember the investments that quietly removed those obstacles from our lives.
That may explain why our public conversations about development are often dominated by projects that are announced rather than projects that are used. Politics rewards visibility. Infrastructure rewards consistency.
Yet, if we are serious about measuring development, perhaps we shou...