Africa-Press – Liberia. Liberia has urged African leaders and regional institutions to treat road infrastructure as a continental emergency, warning that Africa’s prosperity depends on deliberate investment in transport connectivity.
The appeal was made by Mrs. Joseta Neufville-Wento, Head of the National Road Fund, who represented Liberia at the 11th Edition of the Africa Road Builders Conference in Abidjan.
Speaking on behalf of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, she emphasized that roads are central to Liberia’s national development agenda.
“President Boakai’s development agenda is clear, roads are not secondary investments; they are central to economic transformation,” Mrs. Wento told delegates.
She noted that Liberia is strengthening financing mechanisms, improving institutional coordination, and renewing political commitment to build a sustainable road sector.
Despite these efforts, Joseta revealed that only less than 15 percent of Liberia’s national road network is paved, frowning that this deficit limits connectivity between counties, raises transport costs, and slows the movements of goods and people. Mrs. Wento stressed that this challenge reflects a wider African infrastructure crisis, citing her own journey to Abidjan which required transit through Ghana and Togo instead of a direct route from Liberia to Côte d’Ivoire.
Across Africa, more than half of the continent’s roads remain unpaved, while transport costs are reported to be up to 75 percent above global averages. Poor infrastructure has contributed to intra-African trade stagnating below 20 percent, compared to more than 60 percent in Europe and Asia.
Liberia called on ECOWAS and the African Union to prioritize road development, proposing measures such as regional corridors linking West to East and North to South, harmonized axle load controls, integrated tolling systems, stronger enforcement institutions, and coordinated political commitment.
“Africa cannot afford incremental action,” Mrs. Wento warned. “We cannot continue to discuss integration while our roads remain disconnected. We cannot speak of trade while transport systems remain inefficient.”
She urged African nations to act as one connected market where farmers, traders, and businesses can move goods and services across borders without delays or excessive costs. “A farmer in Liberia should be able to move goods to markets in Côte d’Ivoire without unnecessary delays. A trader in Ghana should reach Sierra Leone without excessive cost,” she said.
In one of the strongest remarks of her speech, she declared: “Africa’s prosperity will not be negotiated in conference rooms; it will be constructed on our roads.”
Liberia’s appeal comes at a time when the country is grappling with decades of underinvestment in infrastructure. Years of civil conflict and economic instability left much of the road network in disrepair, with rural communities often cut off from markets, schools, and health facilities. The government has since identified road construction and rehabilitation as a cornerstone of national recovery and growth.
Regionally, Africa’s infrastructure deficit has long been recognized as a barrier to development. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 highlights transport connectivity as essential for achieving continental integration, yet progress has been slow. Funding gaps, weak enforcement, and fragmented policies have left many countries struggling to modernize their road systems.
Mrs. Wento’s intervention in Abidjan reflects Liberia’s determination to place road infrastructure at the center of Africa’s development debate. By calling for harmonized policies and coordinated financing, Liberia hopes to galvanize continental action that will reduce costs, boost trade, and connect economies.
She concluded with a call for unity and deliberate action, stressing that Africa’s prosperity will be built on its roads, not in conference rooms. “The future of Africa will not be built by chance; it will be built by choice. If we choose to invest deliberately, we will unlock trade. If we choose to connect our roads, we will connect our economies. If we choose to act together, we will rise together,” she said.
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