By Peter Omopo
The Federal Government has signed agreements for eight major road projects across the country as part of ongoing infrastructure development efforts under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, disclosed this during the signing of the agreements at the Ministry of Works headquarters in Mabushi, Abuja, stating that investors had already shown interest in refunding and tolling sections of the President’s legacy highway projects.
The agreements, signed between Wednesday and Thursday, cover four flagship legacy highways and four additional strategic road projects located across different states of the federation.
Among the projects are Section II of the Calabar-Ebonyi-Abuja Superhighway traversing Ebonyi, Benue, Kogi and Nasarawa states; Section IV of the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway in Oyo State; Section V of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway in Akwa Ibom State; and Section II of the Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi-Gombe-Biu-Maiduguri Road covering the Gombe-Biu axis.
Other contracts signed include the reconstruction of the Mando–Birnin Gwari Road in Kaduna State, the dualisation of the Ibadan–Ijebu Ode Road linking Oyo and Ogun states, as well as the Osogbo–Ikirun–Akoda and Osogbo–Iwo–Ibadan roads across Osun and Oyo states.
Speaking during the ceremony, Umahi described the projects as part of the expanding infrastructure achievements of the Tinubu administration.
“Today is another event that adds to the great work that President Bola Tinubu is doing,” the minister said.
According to a statement issued by his media aide, Francis Nwaze, Umahi explained that the government had already procured the first 123-kilometre single carriageway section of the Calabar-Ebonyi-Abuja Superhighway stretching from Calabar through Ebonyi State to the Benue border.
He added that the newly signed phase covers an additional 173 kilometres through Benue, Kogi and Nasarawa states up to the Oweto Bridge.
Umahi noted that the project would significantly reduce travel time between the South-East and Abuja while boosting commercial activities along the corridor.
“With this project, any part of the South-East you are in, you will be in Abuja in three to four hours. And this is a plus to our commercial activities,” he said.
The minister also commended President Tinubu for what he described as increased federal infrastructure presence in the South-East region.
According to him, the region had not witnessed the current level of federal projects in previous administrations.
Umahi further expressed confidence that the people of the South-East would appreciate and reciprocate the President’s efforts in future political engagements.
