Umahi debunks Kwankwaso’s claim of north-south development projects inbalance

By Faridat Salifu

The Minister of Works, David Umahi has debunked Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s claim that the Tinubu administration’s distribution of infrastructural development projects is skewed to the favour of the southern over the northern states.

In a statement posted in the Federal Ministry of Works’ website on Sunday, Umahi said the facts and figures on current projects revealed substantial road development activity in northern states.

He rolled out the list of ongoing road projects across the country, saying that a total of 1,224 kilometres of road construction work is currently ongoing across three of its flagship infrastructure projects: the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, the Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway, and the Trans-Sahara Highway.

Umahi said the 1,224-kilometre figure was calculated using a three-lane equivalent measure, a technical approach for comparing highway work across corridors with varying widths. In reality, he noted, some of the roads such as the Lagos–Calabar and Sokoto–Badagry projects are designed as six-lane dual carriageways.

According to the Ministry, 350 km of work is ongoing on the Lagos–Calabar project, 756 km on the Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway, and 118 km on the Trans-Sahara Highway, bringing the total to 1,224 km when standardised to three lanes.

In the South, the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway spans 750 km, with 110 km currently ongoing within Lagos State and 65 km within Cross River and Akwa Ibom States. This brings the total ongoing construction in the South to 175 km by six lanes, or 350 km by three-lane measure.

In the North, the Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway covers 1,068 km, with 258 km of work currently in progress in the Kebbi section and 120 km in Sokoto State, amounting to 378 km of ongoing work by six lanes, or 756 km by three-lane standard.

On the Trans-Sahara road, which cuts through Cross River, Ebonyi, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa and Abuja, 118 km of construction work is ongoing in Ebonyi State. That figure represents work underway using the three-lane equivalent.

The minister also referenced the fourth legacy road project, the 439 km Akwanga–Jos–Bauchi–Gombe corridor, which is currently undergoing a redesign from flexible to rigid pavement as directed by President Bola Tinubu.

He further highlighted other ongoing road projects across the country. In the North, these include the Sokoto–Zamfara–Katsina–Kaduna dual carriageway (275 km), Abuja–Kaduna–Kano dual carriageway (350 km), the 256 km BUA Tax Credit road, Zaria–Hunkuyi road (156 km), Kano Northern Bypass (49 km), Bama and Dikwa roads (100 km), and the Borno Ring Road (110 km).

Additional interventions include the 76 km Malando road in Kebbi, the 250 km Benue to 9th Mile dual carriageway, and the Lokoja–Okene dualisation project (86 km).

In the South, Umahi listed ongoing projects such as sections of the Lagos–Ibadan expressway, Lagos to Sagamu with flyovers, the Oyo–Ogbomoso–Ilorin corridor, and rehabilitation works on the Carter, Eko and Third Mainland bridges.

He also named the Enugu–Onitsha and Enugu–Abakaliki roads, access roads to the Second Niger Bridge, the Eleme–Onne road, East-West Road section 2, Nembe-Brass road, Bodo-Bonny road, Lokoja–Benin road, and the Eket bypass.

According to him, many of these projects were awarded toward the end of the last administration but had not progressed until the current government resumed funding.

The Minister announced plans to release a full list of all federal road and bridge projects valued at N20 billion and above that are either ongoing or completed.