**By Egufe Yafugborhi, BENIN CITY **
For five days, the Benin-Agbor-Asaba Road ceased to be merely a highway. It became a waiting room without walls, a sleeping ground for travellers, workshop for broken vehicles and, for some commuters, a test of endurance.
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At one of the worst points along the bypass axis, vehicles stood bumper-to-bumper while passengers waited for hours, then through the night, for movement that barely came.
The human cost of the gridlock was captured by the image of a female traveller who alighted from her stranded vehicle and brushed her teeth by the roadside after another frustrating night trapped in traffic.
But beyond the image was a bigger story — years of road deterioration, failed interventions, a concession arrangement under scrutiny, government agencies trading explanations and politicians rushing to demonstrate that they were listening.
When Minister of Works, David Umahi, arrived at the troubled section August 25 with Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, the visit quickly became an accountability drama.
Umahi began with an apology.
“I apologise to all commuters and the people of Edo State, people of Delta State, and all people that use this road,” he said.
But the apology was followed by an extraordinary indictment of the concessionaire, Benin-Agbor Expressway Concession Company, BAECC.
“I’m’ very disappointed with this concessionaire,” Umahi declared. “This road was not like this before we handed it over to you. It was not like this!”
According to him, the concessionaire had removed asphalt despite repeated warnings from the Ministry of Works.
“The Ministry of Works does not allow anybody to remove the asphalt on the road. That is against the policy of the Ministry. You have no knowledge of road construction.
“How many of the lumps will you put inside water for it to be passable? You don’t know what you are doing! You have no method statement, no technical competence, no technical staff”, he went further.
Samuel Daramola, Chief Executive Officer of BAECC, presented a different picture.
He said, “We’ve started working with respect to this road. We expanded the road… wanted eight lanes to be here.
We are wrestling with weather. Heavy rain keep pouring, and that’s the reason we have this place like this.”
He said heavy trucks using the route created another challenge, adding, “Sometimes we’ve built this road, stabilized the road through CSBC… we’ve actually even done to binder level. However, while it is yet to cure… sometimes we are forced, compelled, in the overriding public interest, to actually open the road.”
The consequence, he admitted, was costly. “What happens when we do that? Apparently, it spoils some of the works we have done, and we have to do it over and over again.”
But a Ministry of Works official disputed the company’s methodology, arguing, “Another challenge we have with them (concessionaire) is the methodology of their work. They are supposed to put the drains well to direct the waters out before they start working on the pavement.” The official alleged the contractor worked on the pavement without adequate drainage, allowing water to damage the road.
For commuters, however, the technical dispute offered little comfort. They needed the road restored.
Kingsley Osenwingie, Chairman of Ikpoba Hill Forum, said residents had been forced to speak because lives and property were at risk.
He narrated, “Some days ago, there was lockdown on this road based on the nature of the bad road, and it’s causing a lot. Lives and property is at threat.
“We need a better road, and we are appealing to the Minister of Works, Umahi. Please, we need a better road so that before the next rainy season, our road will be good.
“This road now is bringing a bad name to our Governor (Okpebholo), which is not a state road. So, Federal Government should do something speedily.”
Governor Okpebholo, meanwhile, used the occasion to praise President Bola Tinubu for responding to the crisis. “When you have a father listening to you, what do you do? Cool temper”, he told the edgy crowd.
“This one is just about 3–5 days that the cry came out. Today, the Minister of Works is here. Is that not a listening President? We are happy with the President. We know the President means well for Edo.”
The political praise has drawn criticism from civil society.
Austin Aghomi, Coordinator, Journalists for Just Development of the Niger Delta, said political leaders were focusing on the five-day crisis while ignoring years of suffering.
Aghomi said, “Again, this is another case that shows how political leaders live a Nigeria different from the one occupied by the masses.
“Umahi, Okpebholo and Sunday Dare reduce prolonged suffering on the Benin-Agbor-Asaba Road to only five days the entire world beamed spotlight on it. Yet travellers’ ordeal has lingered for years.”
He questioned how a concessionaire described by the minister as technically incompetent got the contract in the first place.
“Government had agreement with concessionaire. Umahi should spare Nigerians rhetorics and emotive appeals, to tell the people which concessionaire agreement it entered with BAECC and how he waited 16 months before knowing it engaged an ‘incompetent’ concessionaire.”
The problem, however, extends beyond the Edo axis. From Agbor through Asaba and towards Onitsha, motorists continue to encounter failed sections.
Around Koka Flyover towards Onitsha, only one side of some stretches remains effectively motorable as repairs stall.
Godknows Igali, National Chairman of PANDEF, warned that the situation could isolate the South-South.
“For some months we’ve been lamenting on this matter. We’ve been warning. We are getting to a point where the South-South will be cut off from the rest of the country. The Ministry of Works has to go back and review the competence of those people doing these jobs,” he demanded.
At a subsequent stakeholders’ meeting, Umahi demanded changes to BAECC’s personnel and methods.
“Remove the Project Director whose qualification is in doubt. Show us technical competence and proof of road done before”, just as also demanded that removed asphalt be reinstated, drainage corrected and traffic restored.
Okpebholo said he felt “horrible” about the state of the road. “What we are seeing now is not what we are supposed to be seeing after 16 months. You cannot give what you do not have. If they were competent, we should have seen part of this road achieved”, the governor said.
BAECC’s Head of Legal, Peterson Fabian, however, described the government’s proposals as friendly and collaborative, appealing for more time for consultations.
For the traveller, the arguments over concession agreements, engineering methods, rainfall and competence sound distant.
The immediate demand is simpler: a road that works.
A journey from Benin to Asaba should not require a traveller to sleep inside a vehicle, spend hours trapped in traffic or brush her teeth beside a highway because another night has passed without movement.
The question therefore remains: who failed the travellers? Beyond the blame game, perhaps the greater question is: who will ensure that this critical corridor does not become a permanent monument to Nigeria’s politics of excuses?
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