about this space
THE ROADS THAT SHAPED ME
My own journey into this world has been anything but straight. There were the cross-country trips in the Nigerian informal public transport buses, like Ogbomosho to Awka for a Catholic students’ convention, or Abeokuta to Abuja for the authentication of academic documents. There was the day I drove to neighbouring Benin Republic and back, marvelling at their smooth roads while wondering why the so-called giant of Africa could not match them.
Some roads were memorable for their beauty, others for the frustration they caused. The Oyo–Ogbomosho road, with its endless congestion and grim accident record, has kept me asking when freight will finally return to rail. As for potholes, damaged bridges, or unfinished roadworks, I could write a book, but my state of origin might not thank me for it.
FROM CARS TO CITIES
Cars were the first love. What’s there not to love about the different shapes, sounds, and power they command? Civil engineering came later, not out of grand design but as a reluctant pivot after repeated rejections from computer engineering. I flirted briefly with building construction before finding myself drawn back to roads, traffic, and infrastructure. My early ambitions were straightforward: fix congestion, improve road quality, and keep traffic moving.
Then postgraduate research opened a wider world. First in transportation engineering, then in sustainable mobility, I began to see mobility not just as moving vehicles but as creating equitable, sustainable, and resilient systems for people. The shift was slow but certain, from designing for cars to designing for cities that serve everyone.
AT THE INTERSECTIONS
Now, the work lives at the intersection of sustainability planning, climate change, transport, and people. People come last in the list not because they matter least, but because they are the most complex. Earning a doctorate taught me less about having all the answers and more about asking better questions.
These days, I am less interested in the cleverness of a solution than in whether it works, whether it avoids unintended harm, and whether it is shaped collaboratively with the people it affects.
WHAT THIS SPACE IS FOR
“The most valuable journeys are rarely taken alone”
This site is my public journal, a place to document thoughts and reflections without the constraints of academic writing. A space to think aloud, share ideas in progress, and invite others into the process.