Umahi: When Shall We Have The Lagos-Abuja Superhighway? By Taiwo Adisa, PhD

The passion with which the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu tackled the Lagos-Calabar Superhighway upon its presumption of workplace in 2023 left nobody in doubt that this is one federal government that has an interest in linking various parts of the nation with quality roadways. After the argument that the Lagos-Calabar Road was just a southern affair, the administration included the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway to stabilize things out. I would state that not much is being heard about the Sokoto-Badagry Road, much sound and drama have actually focused on the Lagos-Calabar concrete Road.

Not lots of Nigerians appeared persuaded about the seriousness of the task at the time it kick-started, the reality that the federal government was bent on making a declaration with the task is not in doubt. While concerns continue on the style, the expense, and the ecological effect reports, the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, had actually made it the upper point of his program to monitor, talk about, argument, and check the roadway at routine periods.

Some bureaucrats stated that the prepare for the roadway has actually remained in the books of the Federal Government for a very long time. They stated the exact same of the Sokoto-Badagry Road, which some stated was mentioned a number of times by the late President Shehu Shagari in the Second Republic. It is uncertain if the durability of the concept can respond to for its seriousness at this time. Well, as we speak, the concern of whether the agreement need to be offered or not is off the table. The deed has actually been done. What Nigerians can require today is that the professionals ought to guarantee a great task is done.

We have actually seen that absolutely nothing can eliminate the intent of Tinubu’s administration to perform the Lagos-Calabar and Sokoto-Badagry Superhighways. Not a couple of Nigerians are of the view that there is something to discover from history. We check out in the books that the Royal Niger Company, which moved the ownership of Nigeria to the British authorities, had actually allocated access to sources of basic materials as a crucial policy effort. We discovered that as an outcome of the requirement to quickly transport the raw products from the inner paths to the sea, the train was interpreted as the genuine mode of interaction. The channelization of rail gain access to was likewise stated to have actually been created in a manner that stressed business of the colonialists-ferrying resources as rapidly as possible back to the home nation. You saw that the rail stations and the roadway networks that were developed and all connected together in a method that fast-tracked the project of the British and boosted the transfer of the much-desired items to the ferryboat at the sea.

I do not understand what service design was trusted by the Tinubu federal government in zeroing in on the Lagos-Calabar and Sokoto-Badagry Roads as the most essential superhighways in 2023. I am, nevertheless, persuaded that if a basic study had actually been carried out amongst Nigerians in getting to the response, lots of would quickly select the Lagos-Abuja Superhighway as a pushing top priority. The traffic in between Lagos and Abuja has actually been the heaviest recently, either by roadway or by air. The Abuja -Lagos path has actually ended up being the most profitable for airline companies because the motion of the federal capital to the FCT. And if the federal government were to construct a contemporary rail system to sign up with a superhighway, travelling around the nation, in addition to tourist, would be considerably boosted. If the federal government were to embrace a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) design or a design of concessioning that would make sure the roadway is tolled, financiers around the world would quickly leap at it. How the wise business owners that surround this federal government missed out on that chance beats one hollow.

It is, nevertheless, much better late than never ever; David Umahi can still swing his engineering wand and land us the Lagos-Abuja Superhighway, related to an express train system. It is even a surprise that federal governments for many years have actually stopped working to set up an expressway connecting Lagos with the brand-new capital. As it is, the expressway that needs to connect Lagos to Abuja was ended at Ilesa, Osun State. One can not describe why the military, which actualized the motion of the country’s political capital from Lagos to Abuja, did not ponder an expressway to help with the motion of individuals to the brand-new capital. After Ilesa, a small, winding roadway browses through Akure, Ondo State, parts of Akokoland, and to Kabba, in Kogi, or if you take the one to the right after Owo, you browse through Ibillo, Ogorimagogo, and after that Okene and Lokoja. Either path is a traffic snare. I was even informed that the Ibillo end has actually been deserted long earlier, after it ended up being a den of abductors.

Whether it is for the fancy of connecting a country’s financial capital to the political capital or we are identified to take advantage of the substantial organization chance offered by the unrelenting traffic around the Lagos-Abuja passage, it makes good sense to start the Lagos-Abuja Superhighway today.

There is a message here for Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy. I was informed he originates from one end of Akoko which his compatriot, Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, the Minister of Interior, likewise comes from Ondo North, the location that houses the path that connects Ondo with Kabba, Kogi State, which acts as the existing possible linkage in between Abuja and Lagos. If the gentlemen would wish to compose their names in the hearts of their individuals, this is the time to lobby every sector of the federal system to authorize the building and construction of a Lagos-Abuja Superhighway that would go through their native land.

If financing is the difficulty that would keep such a job at bay, I do not believe that the Federal Government has a concern there. In the last 2 years, a business originated by Lagos entrepreneur, Chief Kenny Martins, has actually highlighted procedures by which such a roadway can be repaired through concession.

Martins, who declared that the late President Muhammadu Buhari had actually purchased into the job, had actually revealed that his business AEC Unity Network Limited was dealing with a 470-kilometre Abuja– Lagos Superhighway, which he stated would cut travel time in between the 2 capitals to 4 hours. He spoke in Lagos in 2025, revealing the hope that the Federal Executive Council would offer its nod to the job, valued at an approximated expense of $4bn.

Martins had actually stated: “The job will take about $4bn, however with problems and changes, it can be assembled to $5bn. The time for conclusion is 4 years, and when the roadway is all set, it will take simply 4 hours to take a trip from Lagos to Abuja.”

Far, there have actually not been descriptions as to why absolutely nothing is being heard from the administration on the job; suffice it to state that the superhighway is a deserving task, either as a public sector-funded task or a concession to a personal issue. If you ask me, I will choose that the proposed roadway and even the Lagos-Calabar job or the Sokoto-Badagry building are handed through a concession, where rigorous guidance and adherence to timelines would be ensured. The size of the country’s capital spending plan votes is another problem here. Recently, the National Assembly extended the capital element of the 2025 budget plan to December 31, 2026, which indicates that the N30.22 capital spending plan for 2026 would not be performed at all. If a job is connected to such unpredictability, you can be sure its fate is currently figured out before its launch.

It is simple to understand why some easy riddles are so tough to deal with in Nigeria. We have the Infrastructure Concessioning Regulatory Commission; we have Ministers of Works, who need to aspire to provide on huge tasks; you have directors of highways, who need to wish to make sure the roadway in their region is motorable throughout the year. They end up doing the reverse. Instead of release the capability of the economic sector to build huge jobs on behalf of federal government and guarantee they recover their cash by tolling the roadways, the federal government has actually continued to take loans that wound up undergoing the vagaries of Federal Character. When the Buhari federal government began acquiring SUKUK loans, I was surprised to see that a N100 billion loan would be dispersed to the 6 geopolitical zones in equivalent halves. Inform me the number of years a task would need to wait before it would be carried out if it depends on such a financing pattern. The favored alternative would have been to dedicate the N100 billion loan to one single job where the fund can make considerable effect. Federal governments do unimaginable things in the name of political accuracy.

While sounding passionate in 2015 about his business’s proposition for the Abuja-Lagos Superhighway, Chief Martins stated that the business has actually committed 6 years to the prepared job. He stated that the superhighway will link Abuja, the Federal Capital, with Lagos, the financial center, and open neighborhoods in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, and Niger. He likewise mentioned a spur to Baro Port.

“The superhighway will help with much easier and less expensive methods of travelling by roadway in between the 2 fantastic cities. It will likewise supply a practical option for those taking a trip to any of the states along the passage,” Martins stated.

By all methods, the superhighway is long past due, and the Minister of Works should not squander much time bringing it to life.

(Published by the Sunday Tribune, October 4, 2026).