The Presidency has blamed the deteriorating condition of the Benin-Agbor-Asaba Expressway on failures by the contractor handling the project, insisting that the crisis on the strategic highway should not be used to judge the Federal Government’s wider road programme.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, said on Wednesday that the government had moved swiftly to address the situation after widespread complaints from motorists over the state of the road.
Speaking on Channels Television, Dare described the failure as an isolated incident and said challenges could arise during road construction, particularly in the rainy season.
“I think that first, these are isolated cases. And we all know by the nature of road construction, during rainy season, you encounter problems like this,” he said.
He maintained that while the Federal Government had a duty to identify roads requiring intervention and provide funding, contractors were responsible for ensuring that projects were properly executed.
“Whatever played out yesterday, we had all the stakeholders there. And it’s important that even the contractor came out, even though he gave excuses, it showed a failure on their part,” Dare said.
His comments followed Tuesday’s inspection of the troubled highway by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, who apologised to commuters over the condition of the road and criticised the concessionaire responsible for its reconstruction.
Umahi also directed that the highway undergo total reconstruction after concluding that temporary repairs and palliative measures would no longer provide a lasting solution.
The intervention followed weeks of hardship for motorists along the Benin axis of the road, where severe deterioration had caused lengthy traffic congestion, damage to vehicles and increased transportation costs.
Although the gridlock had eased by Tuesday, sections of the highway remained in poor condition.
Dare said the presence of the Works Minister, National Assembly members and other officials at the site demonstrated the administration’s willingness to respond quickly to infrastructure failures.
“Government has a responsibility to identify the roads that need to be fixed. Government has a responsibility to provide the funding. And then, the next responsibility goes to the contractors to do what is necessary,” he said.
“What we saw yesterday, the Minister, the National Assembly members, and other key stakeholders going there in record time, right on the spot. And I think that’s what good governance is about, responding as quickly and as swiftly as possible, putting the blame where it is, and requesting for immediate action.”
The presidential aide rejected suggestions that the failure of the Benin-Agbor-Asaba road reflected the general condition of federal road projects across the country.
According to him, several other highways had either been completed or were progressing without similar complaints.
“I said these are isolated, but we have quite a number of other roads where there are no complaints, where the roads have been fixed,” Dare said.
He cited the Abuja-Lokoja corridor as an example, saying he recently travelled along the route with about 65 journalists and observed completed sections as well as areas where concrete construction was still ongoing.
Dare argued that major road projects should be assessed progressively because construction is often carried out in stages.
“It’s like a house construction; a house is not built in a day, it’s progressive. Until the roof comes on, the rain will still pour down on the building,” he said.
He added that motorists might have to endure temporary inconvenience while construction continues on major highways.
The presidential aide said the Tinubu administration was currently overseeing five legacy road projects and about 320 road projects across the country, describing the scale of the programme as evidence of the President’s focus on infrastructure.
“Is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on top of what’s happening? Absolutely,” Dare said. “We’re talking about five legacy roads; we’re talking about 320 roads across the length and breadth of our country.”
The Federal Government’s renewed intervention on the Benin-Agbor-Asaba corridor follows mounting complaints from road users and businesses whose movement along the route has been disrupted by the worsening condition of the highway.
With Umahi now calling for total reconstruction, attention will turn to how quickly the government and contractor can move from emergency intervention to a durable solution.
For motorists who have endured weeks of gridlock, damaged vehicles and rising transport costs, the critical test will not be where responsibility lies, but how soon one of the region’s major economic corridors can be restored to safe and reliable use.
