President Bola Tinubu has ordered the redesign and total reconstruction of the Benin-Agbor-Asaba Road and other major federal highways across Edo State and adjoining corridors, as the Federal Government moves to address worsening road conditions nationwide.
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, disclosed the directive on Tuesday during an inspection of the troubled Benin-Agbor-Asaba Road in Edo State, while the Minister of State for Works, Bello Goronyo, visited the Ifaki-Oye-Kabba and Efon-Iwaraja roads in Ekiti State.
Umahi apologised to commuters over the poor condition of the Benin-Agbor-Asaba Road and took responsibility for what he described as the mismanagement and destruction of public assets by the concessionaire handling the project.
The minister said palliative works would no longer be sufficient, stressing that the road required total reconstruction.
He condemned the Benin-Asaba Expressway Concessions Company, BAECC, which was awarded the concession for the reconstruction and expansion of the highway from four to 10 lanes in 2025.
Umahi said the company removed asphalt from the existing road against the advice of the Ministry of Works, thereby worsening its condition.
“I apologise to commuters plying this road. The NDDC is willing to intervene. I am disappointed with the concessionaire. I take full responsibility for their misdeed and destruction of public assets,” Umahi said.
“The Ministry of Works does not allow removal of asphalt. We begged them not to remove it. The concessionaire should have been arrested for destroying public property. This road was not like this when it was handed over.”
He directed the ministry to take action against concessionaires who remove asphalt from existing roads without authorisation.
Addressing the Chief Executive Officer of BAECC, Samuel Daramola, Umahi accused the company of manipulating the process to secure the concession and questioned its technical capacity to execute the project.
“The President has directed us to do whatever is possible to fix this road. The law is there and there is overriding public interest,” he said.
“It is also the fault of the government for not finding out the competency of concessionaires. You are learning how to do construction on our road. This is dangerous.”
Umahi said the Federal Government would engage competent contractors to restore damaged sections of the highway, adding that CCECC would be approached to repair bad portions around Asaba.
He further disclosed that Tinubu had directed the redesign of major roads linking Kogi, Edo and Warri, with the projects to be executed using concrete pavement.
“The President has directed me to redesign all roads from Kogi to Warri and around Edo State. They are to be done with concrete pavement. We need total reconstruction of this road and not this palliative,” Umahi said.
The BAECC chief, however, blamed heavy rainfall and the high volume of vehicular traffic for the slow pace of work, saying the company had struggled to construct side drains while keeping the highway open.
“We are wrestling with weather as much as we want to keep to the scope of work. We expected our palliative work to have been completed long ago,” Daramola said.
“We have to choose between doing side drains and combating heavy traffic. We are compelled to open the road when it was not ready. We have to do the work over again.”
The representative of the project consultant, Toyin Akinlapa, said the concessionaire failed to follow instructions to execute the project according to specifications.
He said the company ignored advice to first construct drainage facilities before carrying out other works, a development that contributed to the road’s deterioration.
The Federal Government’s renewed intervention comes amid reports of widespread deterioration of major highways across the country, including the Ibadan-Abeokuta, Lagos-Badagry and Ibadan-Ife-Ilesa roads in the South-West.
Other affected roads include the Onitsha-Enugu, Enugu-Abakaliki, Onitsha-Owerri, East-West, Warri-Sapele and Benin-Sapele highways.
Major northern roads, including Abuja-Kaduna, Abuja-Lokoja, Lokoja-Okene, Kaduna-Kano, Kano-Katsina, Sokoto-Gusau, Maiduguri-Damaturu, Bauchi-Jos and Gombe-Yola routes, are also said to be in poor condition.
The road conditions have disrupted transportation, damaged vehicles and increased the cost of doing business and movement of people and goods across the country.