Relief as Tinubu Approves Reconstruction of 401km Lokoja-Benin-Effurun Road With Concrete Pavement

…Umahi blames concessionaire for chaos on Benin-Agbor road— NDDC moves to fix Benin-Sapele axis

By Chike Ofili
President Bola Tinubu has directed the redesign and reconstruction of the approximately 401-kilometre Lokoja-Benin-Effurun road corridor using concrete pavement, as the Federal Government moves to end repeated palliative repairs on the strategic highway linking several parts of the country.

Minister of Works, David Umahi, announced the presidential directive on Tuesday during an inspection of major federal roads in Edo State, saying the volume of traffic on the corridor required a comprehensive and durable reconstruction rather than temporary interventions.

Umahi said the Federal Government would redesign the entire Lokoja-Benin-Effurun corridor for concrete construction, in line with the Tinubu administration’s push for longer-lasting pavement on heavily trafficked federal highways.

“We need to reconstruct this road, not this palliative pandemonium that is going on,” the minister said.

He said the highway carries significant volumes of passenger and commercial traffic and could no longer be sustained through repeated patching and other temporary measures.

The announcement came as Umahi apologised to motorists and residents of Edo and Delta states over the deteriorating condition of sections of the road, particularly the Benin-Sapele axis, where commuters have faced severe difficulties.

The minister also blamed the concessionaire handling the Benin-Agbor Expressway for much of the disruption on that corridor, accusing the company of lacking the technical capacity required to execute the project properly.

Umahi said the concessionaire’s handling of the road had subjected motorists and communities along the route to avoidable hardship.

He recalled that during an earlier inspection with Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo, he personally observed asphalt being removed from sections of the highway and directed that the practice be stopped.

According to Umahi, contractors and concessionaires are not permitted to remove asphalt from federal highways without authorisation from the Ministry of Works.

He described unauthorised removal of asphalt as destruction of public infrastructure and directed federal controllers of works across the country to ensure that contractors or concessionaires found engaging in the practice without approval are arrested.

The minister maintained that the concessionaire handling the Benin-Agbor project did not have an established reputation for the level of technical competence and integrity required before assuming responsibility for such a major highway.

He said the Federal Government had an obligation to ensure that companies granted concessions over critical national infrastructure possessed the technical and financial capability to execute the projects.

Umahi said Tinubu had taken note of the difficulties facing motorists and directed the Ministry of Works to take all necessary steps to restore the affected roads and bring immediate relief to commuters.

Although road concessions are governed by contractual agreements and existing laws, Umahi said the Federal Government could invoke overriding public interest where necessary to protect citizens and critical infrastructure.

He consequently assured residents of Edo and Delta states and other users of the corridor that immediate rehabilitation measures would be undertaken while preparations proceed for the broader reconstruction.

The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has meanwhile moved to intervene on one of the most difficult sections of the Benin-Sapele corridor.

NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, said the commission had received numerous complaints about the suffering of motorists and had assessed approximately 15.4 kilometres of the worst sections between Benin, Ologbo Junction and Sapele.

Ogbuku described parts of the stretch as severely deteriorated and virtually unmotorable.

He said the commission and the Federal Ministry of Works had agreed to coordinate the intervention to ensure that remedial work conforms with the original engineering design and produces a more durable result.

According to him, the NDDC intervention became necessary after the original funding arrangement for the project through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited was disrupted.

“It is government responsibility, and we are not running away from those responsibilities. That is why we are here to take up that responsibility,” Ogbuku said.

The development effectively provides for an immediate intervention on the worst sections of the highway while the Federal Government works towards the larger reconstruction of the Lokoja-Benin-Effurun corridor.

Umahi also commended Edo youths for exercising restraint despite the severe hardship caused by the condition of the roads, saying their conduct had helped avert a possible breakdown of law and order.

The concessionaire, however, offered a different account of the problems on the Benin-Agbor project.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Samuel Daramola, attributed the slow pace of construction to heavy rainfall, saying the company had concentrated on palliative measures to keep traffic moving under difficult conditions.

Daramola said one of the company’s first actions after taking over the Benin-Agbor project was to expand the roadway.

According to him, the company initially embarked on palliative works because of the large number of potholes along the corridor and the need to create easier passage for motorists.

But Umahi insisted that the situation required a more fundamental solution, with the President’s directive for the redesign and concrete reconstruction of the wider 401-kilometre Lokoja-Benin-Effurun corridor intended to move the highway away from what the minister described as a cycle of inadequate palliative repairs.