The promise and frustration of a future economic powerhouse on Africa’s west coast

0:00Today on State of the World, the promise and frustration of a future economic powerhouse on Africa's West coast.

0:11You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. With a booming population, a coastal stretch of West Africa is set to become one of the most populous urban regions in the world in the next decade. A string of large cities poised to rival global megalopolises, like the corridor from Boston to Washington in the U.S. Tying them together would be a long-promised, repeatedly delayed superhighway that could slash travel time and supercharge trade from Lagos, Nigeria to Abidjan in Ivory Coast. But the task of harnessing that potential has barely been met.

0:56NPR's Emmanuel Akinwotu takes us along a section of the road to understand why. Almost everyone who travels by road west from Lagos to Abidjan knows the toughest part of the journey is at the beginning, on the notorious Lagos-Badagri road towards the border with Benin. And it starts at the mile 2 bus station here in Lagos. For years this has been the key gateway to the region, where drivers call for passengers travelling to cities all along the coast. This hectic bus station is one end of one of the most vibrant economic arteries in West Africa, so we came here expecting to get a sense of the vibrant flow of people and goods.

1:36But instead, most of the vehicles are empty and there are only a few travellers and business people around.

1:46Mama Nana is a 60-year-old businesswoman in a bright yellow floral wax print dress. She's been sitting impatiently for a bus bound for Accra, Ghana and has been here since 5am, she says. But there aren't enough passengers, so the bus can't leave.

2:06Just between Togo border and the Ghana border. She was born in Ghana and is an archetype of so many people in this region, with family and commercial ties that stretch across borders in West Africa and switching effortlessly between several languages depending on who speaks to her. She's lived in Nigeria for 40 years, traveling back and forth for trade, but now much less than she used to. People have not been going like before. People have not been travelling to make business. Part of the reason is the declining economy. Nigeria has for decades been the main engine of trade in West Africa. But gradual economic collapse has choked it with repeated recessions and a tank in currency.

2:51Compounding this is the road itself, infamous for being a gauntlet of extortion and abuse. Too much. It's too much. Every point they have to stop. Driver must pay. They will collect your money. Finally, Mama Nana's bus is ready to leave. So, the driver said we are going. We say our goodbyes and jump in a navy blue Toyota to start the same journey with our driver, Peter Uche.

3:21In the next few years, this 600-mile road from Lagos, Azerbaijan, will become a six-lane superhighway connecting ports and capitals across five countries. And this booming stretch of coastal cities is on track to outpace the world's major urban corridors like Boston to Washington or Tokyo to Osaka in Japan, which is what makes this road so vital. But the pace of development is painfully slow. The highway project is backed by ECOWAS, the regional union of 15 countries in West Africa, but it's taken years to materialise. We speed down the Lagos-Bedagre Expressway when we can. Smooth stretches give way to deep, gaping potholes, forcing us to slow to a crawl, dodging the wrecks the potholes have left behind.

4:10We pass a group of passengers wailing and thanking God for what looks like a near escape.

4:19Their bus has tipped on its side with a tyre broken free. Thankfully, there are no casualties. Then, the extortion that Mama Nana mentioned begins. We arrive at checkpoints where stern-looking police officers with rifles wave the car down.

4:38Uche has to pay a small bribe before we're let go.

4:46They're foolish and like bribes too much, he says. But from here, it's relentless. We pass through almost 30 checkpoints in less than 30 minutes. Some are just metres apart, run by several agencies. Police, military, navy, customs, immigration, drug enforcement, even road safety. And even groups of young men holding sticks without any uniform.

5:18At times, our driver Uche can't help but laugh. Even though the extortion is painful. He ends up paying police about half of the small amount he earns per trip. So he barely makes enough money to pay his rent and his children's school fees. Life in Nigeria is hard, he says. Eventually we arrive at the border, where all travellers face more extortion by immigration officials.

5:48We cross over to Benin, a tiny slither of a country of nearly 15 million people, with a population smaller than the city of Lagos alone. But here the roads are smooth, with virtually no checkpoints and no demands for money. The highway hugs the palm-lined Atlantic coast, leading west towards Abidjan, through several cities grappling with historic change. Emmanuel Akimotu, NPR News, the Lagos Pedagri Road.

6:24That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.