Umahi Orders Three-Week Emergency Rehabilitation Of Major Federal Highways

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has ordered a three-week nationwide emergency rehabilitation of major federal highways, directing ministry officials and contractors to return to the field immediately to make critical roads motorable ahead of the festive season and the January 2027 elections.

According to a statement by his media aide, Francis Nwaze, Umahi gave the directive on Friday during a meeting with Zonal Directors at the Federal Ministry of Works headquarters in Mabushi, Abuja.

The minister expressed displeasure with contractors carrying out permanent construction on some highways while other sections of the same roads remained impassable.

“This practice must stop. The people must not suffer on these roads,” he said, directing that emergency rehabilitation should take priority over permanent construction where necessary during the three-week exercise.

Umahi explained that the intervention would involve excavating failed sections of roads, replacing unsuitable materials with lumps and sharp sand, applying stone base mixed with 3.5 or five per cent cement where necessary, and completing the work with asphalt binder and wearing course where required.

He also directed that road shoulders and drainage systems be rehabilitated, while completed sections that had remained in place for at least 21 days should be opened to traffic where safe.

The minister said the exercise had become necessary because the Tinubu administration inherited a severely deteriorated road network, with several major highways requiring attention at the same time.

He explained that, given competing demands on available resources, durable palliative rehabilitation would help keep roads functional while permanent construction continued.

Umahi recalled that when President Bola Tinubu assumed office, motorists could hardly travel for 30 minutes without encountering potholes or failed road sections.

He also highlighted improved security along the Abuja–Kaduna–Zaria Road, which is about 95 per cent completed, saying there had been no reported kidnapping incident on the route in the past two years.

The directive covers major highways across the six geopolitical zones, including Sokoto–Zamfara, Funtua–Zaria, Kano–Katsina, Kano–Jigawa, Jigawa–Bauchi, Maiduguri Sections 4 and 5, Abuja–Lokoja, Mararaba–Keffi, Keffi–Makurdi, Makurdi–Nyieme, Lokoja–Benin, Benin–Ore, Benin–Asaba, Benin Bypass, Benin–Warri, Warri–Ughelli, the East-West Road and Okpanu–Calabar Road.

In the South-East, the minister directed urgent attention to the Enugu–Port Harcourt Road, particularly the Enugu–Aba section, as well as Enugu–Abakaliki–Ogoja, Aba–Port Harcourt and Owerri–Onitsha roads.

The Bauchi–Gombe and Numan–Jalingo roads, alongside other critical sections in Adamawa and Taraba States, are also listed for intervention.

Umahi further directed contractors to return to previously completed projects and repair defective sections, warning that the expiration of the one-year defects liability period should not be used as an excuse to abandon poor-quality work.

To monitor compliance, he ordered the creation of a dedicated digital reporting platform through which officials must upload project locations, contractors’ details, work completed, outstanding interventions and challenges.

He said his priority was the actual condition of the roads and the work delivered, rather than contract sums or payments. Contractors who fail to comply with the directives are to be reported immediately for appropriate action.

The minister also reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to the 750-kilometre Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, dismissing suggestions that the reconstruction of the East-West Road could affect the coastal project.

“Nothing happened to the 750-kilometre Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway. The President has directed that the project must be completed as envisaged,” he said.

Umahi maintained that the East-West Road was an additional national infrastructure priority and would not lead to the discontinuation or compromise of the Coastal Highway, which he described as the administration’s First Legacy Project.

“The President has directed that the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway remains intact and will be constructed and completed by the same administration that started it,” he added.

He expressed confidence that Tinubu would deliver the administration’s infrastructure projects, including those he described as challenging.

Umahi commended the President for prioritising road construction nationwide, claiming that federal road projects were currently ongoing in every part of the country.

He said the emergency rehabilitation was necessary to ease the burden on motorists, facilitate the movement of goods and services, support security operations and ensure the smooth movement of people and election materials ahead of the January 2027 elections.

The minister urged ministry officials to approach the assignment with seriousness and commitment.