Umahi Moves Against Concessionaire .... Orders Emergency Repairs on Benin-Asaba Road

“The situation on the concessioned Benin-Asaba Road has reached a point where the overall public interest must take precedence over the existing concession agreement.” Umahi 

.... Directs contractors within the corridor to move to all three sections of the road for emergency intervention, with the Federal Government bearing the cost.

The Federal Government has ordered the immediate deployment of major contractors to repair failed sections of the Benin-Asaba Road, as the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, moved to end the standoff with the highway’s concessionaire over the worsening condition of the route.

Umahi, who said the suffering of motorists could no longer be allowed to continue, directed contractors within the corridor to move to all three sections of the road for emergency intervention, with the Federal Government bearing the cost.

The Minister also ordered the redesign of the entire route for reconstruction with reinforced concrete pavement.

The intervention followed the failure of efforts by the Federal Government to secure the cooperation of the concessionaire, whose approval was required under the concession agreement before the government could intervene.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by the Senior Special Assistant to the Minister of Works on Media, Francis Nwaze, the minister said public interest must now take precedence over the existing concession arrangement.

Umahi had visited the Benin-Asaba Road about a week ago and assembled contractors, directing them to prepare for immediate palliative works on the failed portions at no cost to the concessionaire.

However, the concessionaire reportedly declined to grant the Federal Government permission to intervene, despite the worsening condition of the highway.

The Minister subsequently presented three options to enable the government to move in and restore the road, but none of the proposals was accepted.

According to the statement, the concessionaire further reduced the already limited equipment deployed on the road to only one shortly after Umahi's visit to Asaba, worsening the hardship faced by motorists and other road users.

While accepting responsibility for the concerns of Nigerians using the highway, Umahi said the concessionaire had failed to give sufficient consideration to the suffering of the travelling public.

“The situation on the concessioned Benin-Asaba Road has reached a point where the overall public interest must take precedence over the existing concession agreement,” the statement said.

The Minister assured motorists that immediate action was underway to restore every failed section of the road before the eventual rehabilitation of the entire route with reinforced concrete pavement.

The Benin-Asaba intervention is part of a wider emergency response ordered by the Federal Government on several critical highways and bridges across the country.

On the Benin-Sapele Road, the Federal Government, the Edo and Delta state governments, and the Niger Delta Development Commission are undertaking interventions on different sections of the route.

Emergency and permanent works are also being considered on the Ifaki, Ekiti-Kabba, Kogi Road, while contractors are being remobilised to accelerate reconstruction on the Sokoto-Zamfara-Katsina Road.

Umahi said more than 50 kilometres of one carriageway from the Sokoto axis towards Zamfara had been completed with reinforced concrete pavement.

The Minister also gave an update on the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road, saying 118 kilometres of Lot 1 had been completed, while the 164-kilometre Lot 2 was more than 60 per cent completed.

He said the entire project was scheduled for completion by December 2026.

Other roads listed for emergency intervention include the Bauchi-Jigawa Road, Sagamu-Ore Road, East-West Road, Abuja-Lokoja Road and Lokoja-Benin-Warri Road.

The ministry also said rehabilitation works had commenced on the First Niger Bridge, while interventions were ongoing on the approach roads to the Second Niger Bridge.

Umahi said the Federal Government was working on more than 80 per cent of inherited federal roads across the country, adding that the administration was increasingly adopting reinforced concrete pavement to provide more durable infrastructure.

He appealed to Nigerians to be patient, saying the enormous road infrastructure challenges inherited by the administration could not be resolved within three years.

According to him, the new approach to road construction is aimed at providing long-term solutions rather than temporary repairs, with reinforced concrete roads expected to last between 50 and 100 years.