Nigeria faces a recurrent policy choice. Persisting with a model that tolerates asset neglect has institutionalised decay and reduced the efficiency of public expenditure. A shift toward asset restoration as a core governance principle would prioritise value recovery, accelerate service delivery, and strengthen fiscal discipline. This approach does not substitute for new infrastructure investment; rather, it simply insists that what already exists could be made to work first to ease citizen’s pain.
In every corner of Nigeria, the story of abandoned public assets is painfully familiar. These assets, though neglected and abandoned, represent significant unexploited economic possibilities that could be leveraged to turn around the fortunes of Nigeria and Nigerians. Hospitals with broken equipment; schools with leaking roofs, broken science and technological equipment; uncompleted buildings alongside the cost of abandonment, power plants that never reach full capacity, broken water facilities supplying dry taps, fleets of government owned machineries left to rot, refineries destroying value and draining scarce public resources, amongst others.
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This attitude has negatively affected infrastructural development, which is critical and essential to a nation’s development. The misfortune is not only in the neglect itself but in the billions of naira wasted, the productivity lost, and the citizens left without the services they desperately need. For decades, Nigeria has been known more for its inability to maintain what it already owns than for its capacity to build.
Yet, in the past two years, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) embarked on a national asset restoration programme, and its early results suggest that Nigeria may finally have found a cost‑effective solution to its chronic maintenance problem. Across the country, more than 55,000 tractors, once procured at great expense, were abandoned, decaying, while mechanised farming, which could have transformed food production, was crippled by this neglect.
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However, NASENI’s swift intervention saw the restoration of over 1,000 tractors that were returned to service. In this intervention, states have been saved billions of naira, mechanised farming have been revived, and improved agricultural productivity have been unlocked, while states such as Borno publicly announced an agricultural revival after the Agency restored their fleets.
This is more than a story about tractors revitalisation, rather, a case study propelling how asset restoration and revitalisation can deliver immediate, tangible benefits to government and citizens. By breathing life back into what already exists but is abandoned and unused, Nigeria can bypass the delays and costs of new procurement, while unlocking productivity that has been trapped in rust and ruins.
The Cost of Neglect
Nigeria’s maintenance deficit is staggering and deeply visible. Public assets and procurement processes are often abandoned after initial fanfare. Hospitals remain trapped with obsolete and broken equipment, schools are built but left unequipped and quickly fall into disrepair, and water systems, roads, and power plants deteriorate — forcing citizens to rely on costly alternatives.
The National Asset Restoration Programme offers a different path. Instead of chasing new projects, it focuses on reviving existing assets. The restored tractors are proof of concept: a relatively small investment in refurbishment yielded massive returns in productivity, food security, and job creation.
The economic consequences are immense: billions of naira are lost annually to duplication and re-procurement, while citizens bear the burden of poor services, higher costs, and diminished opportunities. Beyond economics, neglect erodes public trust, as Nigerians watch their government spend lavishly on projects that collapse within years, reinforcing perceptions of waste and inefficiency.
While poor maintenance of infrastructure is a common challenge in many developing nations, Nigeria’s case is particularly urgent. Sustainable development depends not only on building new facilities but on preserving and improving existing ones. Prioritising infrastructure maintenance must therefore become a central national decision, despite it, national progress will remain fragile and short-lived.
NASENI’s Model: Restoration as Reform
The National Asset Restoration Programme offers a different path. Instead of chasing new projects, it focuses on reviving existing assets. The restored tractors are proof of concept: a relatively small investment in refurbishment yielded massive returns in productivity, food security, and job creation.
NASENI’s other interventions, specifically the irrigate Nigeria programme, show how restoration can be paired with innovation in Bauchi State, where a model ten‑hectare farm was established using solar‑powered irrigation systems. The benefits were clear: reduced reliance on rainfall, higher yields, rural job creation, and enhanced food security. This is restoration not as patchwork, but as transformation.
The challenge now is to move beyond isolated interventions and embed asset restoration into Nigeria’s governance framework. A National Asset Restoration Policy could ensure that every sector – health, education, technology, and social amenities – adopts restoration as a first line of response. In health, instead of importing new machines, hospitals could refurbish existing diagnostic equipment, saving costs and improving service delivery. Schools could restore classrooms, libraries, and ICT labs, ensuring that infrastructure remains usable for decades. Research facilities and innovation hubs could be revived, supporting Nigeria’s quest for technological advancement. Water systems, roads, and power plants could be rehabilitated, delivering immediate relief to communities.
Such a policy would not only save billions but also create jobs in maintenance, engineering, and refurbishment. It would foster a culture of sustainability, where public assets are seen not as disposable but as investments to be preserved.
Beyond service delivery, asset revival signals a commitment to accountability. Public funds have already been spent on these assets, allowing them to decay compounds waste and deepens mistrust. Reviving them signals a shift toward stewardship, where government treats public assets as investments to be preserved.
Addressing Citizens’ Pain Points
At its core, asset restoration is about addressing the basic and immediate needs of citizens. Nigerians do not demand luxury; they demand functionality. They want tractors that work, hospitals that heal, schools that teach, rails, roads, and infrastructure that connect. Restoration delivers these needs quickly and cost‑effectively.
Beyond service delivery, asset revival signals a commitment to accountability. Public funds have already been spent on these assets, allowing them to decay compounds waste and deepens mistrust. Reviving them signals a shift toward stewardship, where government treats public assets as investments to be preserved. In a country where confidence in public institutions has been repeatedly eroded by dilapidated and abandoned projects, visible restoration can help rebuild trust.
Nigeria faces a recurrent policy choice. Persisting with a model that tolerates asset neglect has institutionalised decay and reduced the efficiency of public expenditure. A shift toward asset restoration as a core governance principle would prioritise value recovery, accelerate service delivery, and strengthen fiscal discipline. This approach does not substitute for new infrastructure investment; rather, it simply insists that what already exists could be made to work first to ease citizen’s pain.
If abandoned tractors can be restored to boost food production, the same logic applies across sectors. Hospitals can be restored to heal, schools to educate, water systems to supply communities, and power plants to energise economies. National progress does not always begin with new projects; sometimes it begins by fixing what has already been built.
This is not about celebrating any single programme or institution. It is about redefining how the Nigerian State understands value, waste, and service delivery. Nigeria does not only need to imagine a better future; it must also recover the one it has already paid for.
David Ugwunta is a public policy and economic planning specialist. He is a senior adviser with Thoughts and Mace Advisory.
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