FG Moves to Fix Benin-Asaba Highway After Years of Neglect, But Nigerians Ask What Took So Long

­The Federal Government has announced urgent steps to repair the Benin-Asaba Highway, a 125-kilometre corridor that has become a nightmare for motorists, with travellers spending days stranded on failed sections and some resorting to dangerous forest routes to escape the gridlock. The road was concessioned to the Benin-Asaba Expressway Concession Company (BAECC) in 2025 for reconstruction and expansion into a 10-lane highway, with the first phase scheduled for completion in March 2027. But 18 months after work commenced, the road remains a death trap, and the government is now scrambling to fix a crisis it allowed to fester.

Minister of Works David Umahi has ordered the immediate mobilisation of major contractors to all three sections of the road, saying public interest must take precedence over the existing concession agreement. He said the government can no longer allow Nigerians to suffer indefinitely, noting that some motorists had spent several hours and, in some cases, days stranded on the road. The minister also ordered the immediate redesign of the entire Benin-Asaba route for reinforced concrete pavement, claiming the measure would provide a more durable solution.

But Nigerians are not impressed. The government’s sudden urgency rings hollow after years of neglect. The road was concessioned under the Buhari administration, and the Tinubu government inherited the mess. Instead of fixing the problem early, the government allowed the concessionaire to continue failing. Umahi admitted that the concessionaire had declined offers of assistance, insisting it would fix the road itself, but nothing was done. The minister also acknowledged that the government had written to the concessionaire over its failure to maintain sections of the road but had been cautious about direct intervention because of provisions in the concession agreement. Now, after motorists were stranded for days and global attention was drawn to the crisis, the government is finally acting.

The scale of the failure is staggering. Umahi disclosed that the Federal Government had paid about N14 billion to Hartland Nigerian Limited for an 11-kilometre stretch of the road, but the company completed only about 40 per cent of the work. He ordered the arrest of the managing director and directed officials to recover the money. A civil society organisation, the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, has demanded an independent investigation into the payment, saying an arrest is not an audit and Nigerians need evidence and value for money. The EFCC has also commenced an investigation into the alleged abandonment of the project.

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Motorists have been forced to resort to lonely forest routes to escape the gridlock, exposing themselves to kidnappers, bandits and other criminals. A commercial bus driver carrying 53 passengers from Lagos had to use a dangerous bush route through Ugoneki village to avoid spending days in traffic. He expressed fears that travellers could easily fall victim to criminals operating in the thick forest. The situation had earlier been raised at the Senate by Senator Adams Oshiomhole, who called for immediate intervention.

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the redesign and total reconstruction of the Benin-Agbor-Asaba road and other major federal highways, but his intervention came only after weeks of harrowing experiences by motorists and commuters. The government is now promising that concrete pavement will last between 50 and 100 years. But Nigerians have heard these promises before. The government that cannot fix a road within 18 months is now promising roads that will last half a century. The government that paid N14 billion for 40 per cent of an 11-kilometre stretch is now promising value for money. The government that allowed motorists to spend days stranded on a highway is now promising urgency.

The Benin-Asaba Highway is a symbol of everything wrong with how the Federal Government and Minister David Umahi have been managing Nigerian roads. The government only acts when the suffering becomes too loud to ignore. It only intervenes when the crisis makes global headlines. It only moves when Nigerians are forced to take to dangerous forest routes to escape the gridlock. The people of Edo, Delta and Anambra states suffer twice when money is paid but roads are not delivered. And they are tired of being treated as an afterthought.

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