Northeast not left out in legacy projects, says Umahi

Stakeholder engagement on the Phase Two of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, on Sunday in Lagos

The Northeast is not left out of President Bola Tinubu administration’s legacy projects, Works Minister Dave Umahi said in Lagos yesterday.

Partly funded by the China Exim Bank, the minister said that the fourth legacy project of the administration stretched from Akwanga to Jos, Bauchi, and Gombe. 

Umahi gave the assurance at a stakeholder engagement on the Phase One and Phase Two of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.

He said: “Let me first start by discussing the fourth legacy project of Mr. President. I watched a motion on the floor of the Senate where the motion was alluding that out of the four legacy projects of the President, none is for the Northeast.

“We have a fourth legacy project of Mr. President that is running from Akwanga. It goes to Jos and from Jos, it goes to Bauchi and to Gombe states.

“It is being funded partly by the China Exim bank, but we came to a point of conflict because the president directed that the road should be redesigned on concrete and it should also be six lanes. That is, three lanes per carriageway.

The minister emphasised that the four legacy projects were spread across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

Disclosing that each of the legacy projects included a train track, Umahi said that the Badagry-Sokoto Highway was originally conceived by the Shehu Shagari administration to run from Badagry to Sokoto.

He said that Tinubu decided that it should begin in Sokoto and go down to Badagry.

The minister said that the road was approximately 1,050-kilometre, adding that construction had begun with the first 120-kilometre Section in Illela, Sokoto State, using three lanes on each carriageway.

The minister said that the second Section, a 258-kilometre stretch in Kebbi, was being planned to be expanded into six lanes (three per carriageway).

Umahi said that procurement for the second carriageway of the Badagry-Sokoto Highway was expected to begin in March.

He also said that the Trans-Saharan Highway was progressing from Ebonyi toward Sokoto.

Umahi said that efforts were being made to complete 10-kilometre of concrete road in both Sokoto and Kebbi states by mid-May for inauguration.

He highlighted the environmental benefits of using concrete, saying that it emitted less heat and allowed Nigeria to earn carbon credits.