Federal Govt Completed 81km Abuja-Kaduna Highway Section In 13 Months – Umahi

By Jonathan Nda- Isaiah and Nonye Ekwenugo

Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, has said the federal government completed an 81-kilometre section of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway in 13 months under President Bola Tinubu, describing it as the fastest road project completion in Nigeria’s history.

Umahi said the achievement contrasted with the eight years previous administrations took to complete 240 kilometres of the highway using asphalt pavement.

The minister spoke yesterday during the commissioning of the 81-kilometre section of the Abuja-Kaduna highway by Tinubu in Kaduna State as part of activities marking the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign flag-off ahead of the 2027 general election.

According to him, the completed section forms part of the 118-kilometre first lot of the highway project, which was accelerated after the federal government took over the work and adopted reinforced concrete pavement.

“Today, you are going to be commissioning 81 kilometres out of this 118. But let me place it on record that this project was completed in just 13 months. But 240 kilometres took eight years to be completed. This is the fastest project completion in the history of this country,” Umahi said.

He disclosed that the first lot of the project was valued at N252 billion, adding that more than 95 per cent of the contract sum had been paid.

The minister also said work was progressing on the second section of the highway, covering 164 kilometres and valued at N505 billion, with more than 144 kilometres completed.

He expressed confidence that the remaining 20 kilometres would be completed by the end of November.

Umahi further disclosed that Tinubu had directed the installation of solar-powered streetlights along the entire 375-kilometre Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway.

He said he personally inspected the road at night on Friday and expressed satisfaction with the progress of the lighting project.

The minister commended Tinubu for expanding the scope of the highway project to cover additional sections around the Chere-Zero area towards Kogi State and the Aminu Kano International Airport, as well as completing a section in Kano State.

On road infrastructure development in the North-West, Umahi said the federal government had completed 348 kilometres of roads in the region out of 1,016 kilometres completed nationwide.

He added that another 1,800 kilometres of roads in the region had been partially completed, while 4,083 kilometres of road projects were ongoing across the North-West.

According to him, the ongoing projects form part of a nationwide road construction portfolio covering about 17,000 kilometres.

On the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, the minister said construction was progressing along the 1,068-kilometre corridor, with 948 kilometres ongoing in Kebbi State and 240 kilometres in Sokoto State, where he put the level of completion at 60 per cent.

Umahi said the scale of infrastructure projects underway across the country required sustained implementation, expressing confidence that the administration would deliver its programme if Tinubu remained in office beyond 2027.

He described the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway as one of the administration’s major infrastructure projects and urged the president to sustain the pace of work.

The minister also commended Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani for consistently following up on the project and former Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari for drawing the president’s attention to its progress.

Tinubu subsequently unveiled the project plaque to formally commission the completed section of the highway.