The reconstruction of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway is one of the projects inherited by the President Bola Tinubu administration.
The project started with the approval in December 2017 by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) under President Muhammadu Buhari. It was awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. at the sum of N155,470,626,078.07 with a completion period of 36 months.
It was to be funded under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF).
The contract for the 375km highway was divided into three sections:
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Section 1 starts from Zuba Junction and terminates at the Kaduna Western Bypass in Kaduna with an approximate length of 165km; Section II begins from the Kaduna-Zaria Road at Kawo Bridge Junction and terminates in Zaria with a length of 73.40km, while Section III connects Zaria to Kano State with a length of 137.00km.
Many Nigerians were excited by the news of the award of the contract because the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway, which is a ‘Trunk A’ road, links the southern part of the country with the North West and North East geopolitical zones.
With the Kaduna-Lagos Road, through Birnin Gwari, in deplorable condition and largely under the control of non-state actors, the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway is practically the only one that serves as the major artery for the movement of people, food items and other goods, especially from the North West to the South and other parts of the country.
On June 26, 2018, the reconstruction was flagged off by the then Minister of Works, Babatunde Raji Fashola, in Kano. Shortly after, some members of the National Assembly asked that the road be expanded and the then president approved it. On February 10, 2020, the Federal Executive Council approved the appointment of Yolas Consultants to handle the engineering design for the extension of the highway from four to six lanes. The contract was awarded for N867.263 million, to be executed in five months.
In March 2021, Fashola presented a memo to the Federal Executive Council to change the scope of work on the highway from the initial renovation to complete reconstruction. The project cost was jerked up to N797.2 billion, an increase of N642.2 billion from the initial project cost. “The new scope provides for full reconstruction of the main carriageway, trailer parks, weigh bridges, toll stations and additional side lanes in the built-up areas across the FCT, Niger, Kaduna and Kano states, which are all served by the road,” Fashola said at the time.
But after several months, the reconstruction target was not met up till the end of the Buhari administration. The failure to meet the target was attributed to criminal activities which stalled the work for about a year in 2022. There were also issues about right of way because of the need to relocate buildings, markets, electricity installations, utilities all of which must be addressed before the contractor can carry on with the job, the government argued at the time.
While the Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road is almost completed, the Abuja-Kaduna section of the project has remained a nightmare for motorists. Our reporters recorded 78 minor potholes and 47 major ones on the less than 170km road. A lot of people have died on the road due to its sorry state, which has been worsened by the rains.
In January this year, the current Minister of Works, Engineer David Umahi, said the contractor, Messrs Julius Berger Nigeria (JBN) Plc., had asked for a further upward review to N1.35 trillion, an amount the minister said the government could not afford. The minister even threatened to revoke the contract, saying, “We have written to the president to approve that if JBN Plc. does not accept the N740 billion, we will terminate the contract. We have terminated some of their jobs because we’ve been negotiating sometimes for 12 months, 13 months.”
Umahi, it must be noted, had also given different timelines for the completion of the road. In January this year, the minister was reported to have said completion will take 24 months. He said that during an inspection of the road alongside the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun. In May this year also, Umahi, during a courtesy visit to the Kaduna State governor, Uba Sani, said the federal government was on course to deliver the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway by 2025.
Considering these and other developments concerning the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway project, the question that we are asking is:
Is the present administration serious about completing this all-important road? What happened to the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) of the Buhari administration which, we were informed, has the resources to complete the project?
We believe that this project is as important as some of the ones the government is going out of its way to fund. The government should ensure the completion of ongoing critical projects before embarking on new ones since it is complaining of funds.
We believe that the federal government, and even the Minister of Works, Umahi, should be decisive on this project. The minister must identify what the problem really is and face it headlong to ensure the completion of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway within the shortest time.
The road is too important to be neglected even as we continue to record deaths and loss of goods, as well as travel time.
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