President Bola Tinubu is set to commission a 30.58-kilometre section of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway in Kano State today, a ceremony that will celebrate a fraction of a project that has been plagued by delays, a terminated contract, and a cost that has ballooned from N155 billion to over N752 billion.
The section to be commissioned spans the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital-Karfi axis and parts of Kunkumi, under Sections I and III of the 118-kilometre road project. The Presidency will frame this as a major milestone. But the reality is that after eight years and multiple contractors, the road that was supposed to connect Abuja to Kano is still not finished, and the government is celebrating a small stretch while the rest remains incomplete.
The project was initially awarded to Julius Berger in 2018 for less than N155.7 billion with a 36-month completion date. Six years later, less than 50 per cent of the work had been completed, and the cost had spiralled to over N752 billion. Works Minister David Umahi revealed that Julius Berger was even owing the federal government N100 billion from the N739 billion already paid to the company. The contract was eventually terminated after 14 months of negotiations over timeline and pricing, and the project was re-awarded to Infouest under a fresh contract using reinforced concrete pavement.
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The failure is not just about money. It is about broken promises. Umahi promised the road would be completed by April 2026. Then he moved the deadline to June 2026. Then to November 2026. Each time, Nigerians were told the end was in sight. Each time, the deadline passed without the road being finished. Even now, significant portions remain incomplete. Out of the 165-kilometre stretch from Abuja to Kaduna, only 45 kilometres have been delivered, leaving roughly 120 kilometres incomplete. On the Zaria to Kano segment, about 20 kilometres remain unfinished.
The human cost of this delay is immense. The Abuja-Kano highway is one of Nigeria’s most critical economic corridors, connecting the federal capital to the northern commercial hubs. For years, travellers and haulage drivers have endured potholes, accidents, and the threat of kidnapping on a road that was supposed to have been fixed years ago. The government says the commissioning will improve connectivity and ease transportation. But for the millions of Nigerians who use the road, the improvement is long overdue and limited to a small section of a much larger problem.
The Presidency will celebrate today. There will be speeches, photographs, and ribbon-cutting. But the celebration is premature. A road that was promised years ago, that has cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of naira more than planned, and that is still not finished should not be a cause for celebration. It should be a cause for accountability. Tinubu is commissioning a section of a road that should have been completed under his watch but was instead allowed to deteriorate into a symbol of broken promises and wasted public funds.
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